The DADA Professor
by RJLupinFan
Summary: Lockhart was one thing, but the handsome, kind and intelligent Professor R.J. Lupin is in a league of his own - or at least that's what Faylinn Goodwill thinks about her new teacher. Can she survive the year without her little crush being exposed?
1. Professor RJ Lupin

"Shove over, I'm starving,"

My best friend, Audrey Parker, looked up at me disapprovingly as I sat down besides her for breakfast.

"What?" I asked with pretend innocence.

"What took so you long?" she asked, rolling her dark brown eyes, "Do you realize we have only 10 minutes left before our first Defense against the Dark Arts class of the year starts and that we need about five minutes just to get there?"

"Uh, right, so I guess now would be a good time to speed-eat?" I said jokingly.

"Probably," Audrey said, smirking, "And from everything we've heard about this new Professor, I think we might need the energy."

"Oh yeh, he's the one whose third year kid had Snape for the boggart, isn't he?" I asked, grinning, "Well, this should make for an interesting class."

"And a hard one – if he puts his third years up against a boggart in their first class, what do you think he will do to a pack of seventh year NEWTS students?"

"Fair point," I said as I hurriedly chewed my way through breakfast. It really did not sound like the kind of class I would want to sit through on an empty stomach. My eyes wondered across the teachers table and spotted the new DADA professor chatting with Professor Flitwick. I had not really given him much thought before now. He didn't seem too old; he certainly couldn't be any older than Snape, though it was hard to tell from this distance.

"What was his name, again?" I asked, as the professor excused himself and left the hall, "Lu-something or the other?"

"Lupin," replied Audrey promptly, "Come on, Fay, let's go! He's left for class already."

"Someones eager," I commented, raising an eyebrow as she stood up hurried from her seat. She was playing with her shoulder length light brown hair, an act I have long learned to associate with excitement.

Audrey shrugged, "Well it's been a while since we've had a decent DADA teacher, hasn't it? What with that Lockhart disaster" – we both shivered at the mention of the name – "and that stuttering fool before him, don't you fancy a _real_ DADA class for a change?"

"Point taken," I said, nodding in agreement, "But just give me thirty seconds to finish of my breakfast."

Audrey rolled her eyes in reply, but waited anyway.

"You still haven't said why you were so late for breakfast."

"Prefect duties," I muttered as I hurriedly devoured the last of my cereal, "Kept me up really late, slept in a bit this morning."

"Mmm, no wonder," said Audrey sympathetically, "I always said you were nuts for taking on prefect duties in seventh year. Way too much work."

It was my turn to role my eyes now, "For you, maybe, but not for the rest of us who don't feel compelled to have our nose in a book every free second of the day."

Audrey pretended to look hurt, but laughed anyway. It was true, we both knew it. The only other Gryffindors who studied more than Audrey were Percy Weasley and that third year girl, Hermione Granger. She is very intelligent too, and I suppose I am as well; I care about marks, but the main problem is that I can't be bothered actually studying hard. It is a shame, really, I used to be able to study five hours straight with only a few bathroom or snack breaks to interrupt, but now it seems an hour, maybe two hours at most is the most I can manage before needing an hour long break.

"Done?" she asked.

"Yep," I said, grabbing my bag as I got out of my seat, "Well, let's go see what horrors this Lupin fellow has in store for us, shall we?"

As we made our way out of the hall, I could not help but smile in anticipation of the class, something I have not done since starting new subjects in third year. Audrey was right; it had been a while since our last decent DADA class, which was a big problem, if truth be told, considering we are taking our NEWTS this year and are seriously under prepared.

Most students were already seated by the time we arrived, but the Professor was nowhere to be seen. Percy Weasley was seated in the front row, looking (or at least trying to look) very impressive, his chest puffed out so that no one could miss his Head Boy badge. His girlfriend Penelope Clearwater was seated besides him. It was only upon seeing her that I realised that we would be taking DADA with the Ravenclaws.

Experience had taught me never to sit near the pompous Percy, so I made my way to the back of the classroom, only to find Audrey grabbing my hand rather roughly and dragging me into the middle row.

"What?" I hissed, rubbing my arm where she had grabbed it.

Audrey did not reply, but indicated her head shiftily to something behind her. Taking the hint to be discreet, I took out a mirror, and while pretending to fix my hair, had a peak over my shoulder, and realised it was not something, but someone, that had caused Audrey to violently shove me in to the middle row, and not the last.

"Ah," I said in a knowing whisper, "Oliver. Say no more."

As much as experience had taught me to steer clear of Percy, experience has also been kind enough to inform Audrey that sitting next to Oliver in class was a one way ticket to distractionville. Audrey had a hopeless crush on Oliver, who, unfortunately, was not interested in anything that did not come with a broomstick attached to it. I could never really figure out what Audrey saw in him – they were just so opposite. Audrey was a bookworm, and the only thing Oliver was ever caught reading was Quidditch magazines, and even then, they were mostly pictures. But I guess that's what being a teenager is all about – having embarrassing crushes that you get over sooner or later and your best friends conveniently bring up sometime or another when they want to make you blush. Mmm, yes, I will definitely be making a mental note of this little crush for, ah, future 'reference'.

Audrey and I sat down next to a couple of friendly Ravenclaw girls, and just as we were finished taking out of books and wands, the professor entered the classroom, closing the door softly behind him.

"Good morning," he said pleasantly, smiling at the class, as he made his way to his desk. I watched him curiously. Up close, it was clear he couldn't be older than Snape, however he had a few grey hairs amongst a full head of light-brown that looked like they did not really belong there. His robes were in a rather poor state; he did not seem to be well off. His face was prematurely lined, though the twinkle of his light brown eyes clearly hinted that he was young.

He set down his briefcase on the desk and turned to face them.

"I am Professor Lupin, as I'm sure many of you will already know. Now, obviously, I will be taking you for your NEWTS in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and as far as the records show, you seem to be very poorly prepared for the subject," he said. With a slight frown, he continued, "Unfortunately, there aren't any detailed records of what work you covered last year, and given the state of the professor, I was not able to find much information. Most of the information I gathered was based on the examination the previous professor had set, and I'm sorry to say that the, ah, standard, shall we say, of the exam was far below that typical of sixth year, and even then, the course work appeared to be largely irrelevant."

I exchanged a smirk with Audrey, who had rolled her eyes. We all knew that 'largely irrelevant' was a major understatement.

"So," Professor Lupin continued, looking thoughtful, "I was wondering if someone could briefly go over what they had covered last year? Yes, Mr Weasely, is it?"

Percys hand had shoot up in to the air so fast that it was a miracle he hadn't dislocated his shoulder. He looked immensely pleased with himself when Professor Lupin had called on him – as though he had just been asked to take over the class himself.

"Thank you, Professor," he said; sitting up, if possible, straighter than he was before, "I regret that as a class, we learned very little useful information last year. Our classes were spent reading passages from the books the professor had authored himself, supposedly about himself, and his exploits in ridding villages of werewolves, or dealing with vampires. Perhaps in some cases, some insight was shed, most inadvertently, about some relevant information, such as the fact that a person becomes a werewolf by acquiring a bite, or that vampires dislike daylight, however it is mostly information I would expect a first year student to know."

His short speech was following by many nods from the rest of the class. Some, like me, were wearing dark looks at the reminder of the pathetic excuse of a teacher.

"Hmm," the professor cast a quick look over the murderous stares of the class, his lip twitching slightly in a way that suggested he wanted to smile but thought better of it, "Right then. It seems we will have much work to catch up on this year if you are to stand a decent chance at your NEWTs. It will, unfortunately, mean extra homework, and it is possible we might need to schedule extra classes, however we will see how it goes."

Great, just what we need – extra classes in our NEWTs year. I really wish Lockhart were here, I would just love to hexed the hell out of him. Maybe Audrey was right about the whole prefect thing, what with all the homework, revision, study, extra classes and prefect duties, I wonder if I will even had time to breath this year?

"Well, then, today, we will be learning how to conjure a Patronus. Can any one tell me what a patronus is?"

A few hands went up, including Audreys. I was relieved to see that most people did not seem to have a clue, because I certainly didn't. I suppose that was one of the down-side of being muggle born like myself.

"Yes, Audrey?" Professor Lupin said, smiling kindly.

Audrey smiled back nervously and said, "A patronus is a kind of positive force, I suppose, used mainly for protection against dementors."

"Excellent. Five points for Gryffindor."

Audrey beamed. I smiled, privately thinking that her explanation made no sense at all. However Professor Lupin spent the next five minutes explaining what a patronus is and does, and it became a little clearer.

"Right, so now we reach the interesting part of the lesson, conjuring a patronus," he said. He looked thoughtful as he continued, "A patronus is conjured in a rather unique way, saying the incantation alone will not help, rather it must be accompanied by a single, happy memory."

He took out his wand, paused for a moment, and then said, "_Expecto__patronum_."

I gasped, as did most of the class, as a silvery something exploded soundlessly from the end of his wand. It shone very brightly, lighting up the room much more effectively than the torches did. It quickly took form, and I realised it was a wolf. It glimmered brightly as it walked around the Professor, circling him protective. There was something oddly beautiful about it.

"There you have it," said Professor Lupin, looking amused at the astonished expressions on his students faces, "That patronus. Now, if you will all stand up please, we will practise as a class."

The class stood, and with a flick of his wand, Professor Lupin moved the tables and chairs to the side of the class room. The class stood in large circle, all watching Professor Lupin eagerly, ready to try to produce a patronus themselves.

"Right, I'll just give everyone a moment to think of a happy moment, and then you will say with me, the incantation, _expecto__patronum_."

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought. I thought carefully, thinking of a happy memory. The moment I found out I was a witch, that was certainly happy.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked, "Focusing on your memory? Right, on the count of three-"

I gripped my wand tightly, and focused on my memory.

"One… two… three!"

"Expecto patronum!" the class cried as one.

Nothing happened. There were a few nervous laughs, as the class looked up curiously at Professor Lupin. He looked amused, thought not surprised.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to get it on their first shot," he said, "In fact, I would have been astounded if anyone did. Thought perhaps by the end of the class… maybe. Surprise me."

They tried again a number of times, and still nothing happened. The atmosphere in the room was intense, it was a challenge, one we hadn't had from a DADA class in a long time, and we were all game. Indeed, Percy was focusing so hard on his memory that he looked almost constipated. It was not until the fourth attempt, that something silvery shock across the room, and to my delight, it had issued from my wand.

I gasped when I saw it, more from shock than anything else. It did not have a form, it was just a wisp of silvery gas, but at least it was something. Percy was looking extremely jealous.

I looked up at Professor Lupin, grinning happily, and he was smiling encouragingly back at me.

"Well done, Faylinn," he said, "That is a very good start. With some more practise it should take a form."

As he said that, I felt a slight twinge in my stomach that had little to do with the sense of achievement. That was unusual, I thought, but shrugged it off, ready to practise my patronus again. Half an hour later, everyone had managed to produce something, some more solid than others, though none had a definite form.

I decided that my memory must not be happy enough, and after a moments thought, settled on last years special feast, when Potter and Weasely had found the Chamber of Secrets and it had been announced that Lockhart was leaving. Smiling cheekily, I thought to myself, if that wasn't happy, I don't know what is.

Focusing hard on my memory, I said, "_Expecto__patronum_!"

Something silvery white escaped from my wand again, but this time, it was not cloudy, it was solid, very solid. As it landed on the floor, I realised it was a swan. I watched it, transfixed, hardly noticing that the rest of the class had stopped to watch, as the swan practically glided towards me; its elegance and grace was captivating. I reached out to touch it; it felt amazing, like solidified liquid light, if that made any sense at all.

"Excellent! Well done, Faylinn, very impressive!" beamed Professor Lupin, as he came forward to pet my swan. His fingered gently stroked its elegant neck. The light of the patronus illuminated his features, making him look youthful. The silvery light flickered across his eyes and they glistened gently. They looked quite nice; there was something almost bewitching about them. I watched him keenly, wondering why I hadn't noticed that before.

"Twenty points for Gryffindor, I really wasn't expecting someone to produce a proper Patronus so soon," he said, as the patronus faded away.

The sound of his voice startled me back into reality, and I quickly realised that though the rest of the class had returned to trying to conjure a patronus, Professor Lupin was looking at me with a curious expression. At first, I was unsure why, and then it hit me. Oh dear. I was staring at his eyes. Dreamily. I was staring dreamily at a teachers eyes. A _teacher_. What was I _thinking_? It must have been the patronus… positive force, isn't that what he called it? Yes, that must have been it… I hope he didn't notice. Oh bloody hell… how embarrassing.

I smiled at him nervously and stuttered a thanks; he returned the smile and then moved on to help other students. It was the patronus, the patronus made you feel that way. But a tiny voice at the back of my head insisted on pointing out that a patronus is not meant to have that effect. Shut up voice, I thought to myself, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

By the end of the class, I had successfully managed to produce a full patronus a number of times. Audrey and Percy both succussed shortly after my own success, as did a number of other students. Audrey's patronus was a fluffy little rabbit.

"Aww, that's so cute," I said, as I petted it, "But I don't see how this is going to protect you from them dementors, fluffy little thing, what is it going to do, wiggle its nose at them?" I added cheekily.

"Oh, and I suppose your swan just screams horror, doesn't it?" Audrey challenged as she bit back laughter.

"Ah, the swan had style, you can't deny that," I retorted. Before Audrey could reply, she was cut off by Professor Lupin.

"Excellent work everyone. For homework, please read the chapter on patronus' and summarise for me, to be handed in next class," he announced at the end of the class, "I will also be testing you on producing a patronus so do make sure you practise."

I quickly packed my stuff and headed out for morning break with Audrey.

"That was an excellent class, wasn't it?" she said excitedly, "Professor Lupin is great, he really knows what he is talking about!"

"Mmmm" I murmured vaguely in agreement, still thinking about the way Professor Lupins eyes looked in the light of my partonus.

"What, you didn't like it?" she asked, looking surprised.

"No, it was a good class, really interesting," I said hurriedly, "Those patronus things are really beautiful, aren't they?"

"Yeh, they are," Audrey nodded in agreement as they sat down in the courtyard, "In fact, I think I might practise that a little more right now…"

"It's morning break, Audrey," I said exasperated, "We've been practising that stuff for two hours, haven't you had enough?"

She shrugged in reply, "I like the bunny."

"Right," I said laughing, "You do that, I'll just recline back over here and think about nothing in particular."

Almost immediately, however, my thoughts turned back to Professor Lupin. Get a grip, Faylinn, so his eyes looked a little nice in the patronus light, big deal? Just make sure you don't stare at his eyes again or he's going to get the wrong idea…


	2. Just a Little Crush

**Chapter 2**

I stood nervously outside the DADA classroom, already a few minutes late to class. Okay, just be cool, I told myself. Be cool, calm, explain to him why you're late, and you'll be fine. It isn't like he's Professor Snape or McGonagall.

Okay. Ready. I reached out, opened the door and entered the room. Professor Lupin was not addressing the class when I entered. He was standing quietly behind his desk as the students arranged themselves along the back wall, he was looking at a sheet of parchment. All the tables and chairs were again pushed to the side of the room. I closed the door as quietly as I could, hoping to sneak inside without him noticing, but he looked up and smiled at me when the door closed rather loudly.

Wow. Has he always had such a gorgeous smile? Wait a minute, what am I thinking? Teacher, he is a _teacher_. Uh oh, he's still looking at me; damn, he must be expecting a reason why I'm late…

"Umm…"

Umm? Umm?? Say something proper! Oh great, there's that curious expression again. His eyes are twinkling, why are his eyes twinkling? That looks like amusement…

"Is there a reason you are late, Faylinn?" he asked pointedly, thought not unkindly.

The sound of his voice knocked me back in to reality, just as it had done in the last lesson we had.

"Uh… yeh, I'm sorry I'm late Professor, I got held back by some younger year students..."I said nervously.

"That's perfectly fine, if you could just hand me your homework and join the rest of the class," he said, "We were just getting read for the patronus test."

I nodded, avoiding looking at him directly by rummaging through my bag for my homework. As I handed it to him he smiled at me again. This time I was ready. I smiled back, albeit timidly and hurried off to join Audrey. With any luck, he'd think my momentary blankness was because I was trying to think of an excuse.

"What's wrong?" Audrey asked, looking concerned, "You never go blank like that."

"I'm not ever sure myself… I'll explain later," I whispered back.

I watched Professor Lupin as he called forward a Ravenclaw boy to demonstrate his patronus. He really does have nice eyes, and a winning smile. I don't mind admitting that, I thought to myself, that isn't something to worry about… anyone can appreciate the good looks of others. The worrying part is the way his smile made my mind blank and the fact that I can't keep my eyes off his; it is literally making my heart race.

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! This can only mean one thing… No! Don't think it… you're just overreacting.

"Faylinn, your turn," Professor Lupins voice called out, interrupting my trail of very confused thought.

I stepped forward nervously, uncomfortably aware that the professor was looking at me expectantly.

"No need to be worried," he said kindly, "I've seen you produce a patronus before."

Ah, that is very nice of your professor, I thought, but that isn't why I'm nervous… But how do you tell a teacher that his eyes are so attractive that they are making your mind go blank? The simple answer would be, you don't, and you focus on the blackboards instead so you don't fail the test.

I stared intently at the blackboard in front of me and allowed the memory of the day that Lockhart was fired to replace my thoughts of Lupins eyes, raised my wand, and said, "_Expecto__patronum_!"

A silvery-white swan erupted from the end of my wand. I breathed a sigh of relief – for a moment I was worried that I would not be able to produce a proper patronus, given my nerves.

"Excellent patronus," Professor Lupin said encouragingly, as he ticked my name of his list.

I stumbled back to my place against the wall, watching him again. His light brown hair framed his face nicely and matched his eyes perfectly. He is actually very handsome.

Great, I thought, as an all too familiar tingling sensation rushed through my stomach, I really did just think that, didn't I? Okay… maybe I just should stop thinking all together before I think something really stupid…

But the more I tried not to think, the more the thoughts kept creeping across my mind. Scary thoughts, thoughts I would rather not be having about a teacher. Like this one, which popped out rather randomly as I was successfully (or so I thought) distracting myself by watching Percys fox patronus strut around the room: I think I have a crush on him. Argh! I thought it! Who would have thought thinking could be so dangerous? Oh man, I hope Professor Lupin can't do legimancy.

Is it really a crush though, I wondered silently as I watched Professor Lupin explain something to the class. I find him good looking, there is no denying that. He makes me nervous when he talks to me, and every time he smiles at me I get this curious tingling sensation in my stomach. He has a nice voice too…

Yep, I thought pessimistically, leaning back in my chair, shuddering at the very thought. It is official. I have a crush on a Professor Lupin.

- - -

Audrey and I spent the time before dinner that day on the school grounds, sitting under a large tree near the lake. It was one of our favourite spots – it was shady, and had a nice view of the lake, though I suspect the reason Audrey likes it so much is that anyone going from the castle to the Quidditch stadium can easily be spotted.

I was seated comfortably with my back against the tree trunk, while Audrey was lying down on her side, flicking through our transfiguration text book.

"Audrey?"

"Mmm?" she replied her face so close to the book that it was a miracle she could read it at all.

"I have to tell you something," I said nervously.

"What?" she asked curiously, finally looking up from her textbook.

"Wait, can you cast a notice-me-not charm on us first, in case someone is listening?" I asked, leaning away from the tree trunk and looking to see if anyone was listening.

"There's no one close to us at all," Audrey pointed out, "We'd see them, we are kinda in the middle of no where, you know. Plus a lot of students don't even bother coming out on the ground anymore, what with those horrible dementors and the fear of Sirius Black…"

"Just cast it anyway, just in case. I'd do it myself, but you know, you're better than me at it," I added, smiling sheepishly.

"Okay," she agreed, sitting up straight and casting the spell, "Now, you've got my attention. What's up? Spill!"

"Er, okay," I said, giggling nervously.

Audrey raised an eyebrow, but waited for me to talk.

"Umm… I think I have a crush…" I said cautiously, waiting to see her reaction. I can't help but feel it is best not to throw this at her too quickly. I mean, he's a _teacher_… I don't want the girl to have a heart attack.

"That's all?" she said, looking disappointed, "You made me cast the charm just for that? Gee… I was expecting something a little more, you know, interesting…"

I laughed at her frankness, and said, "Yeh, I know. Trust me; I wouldn't have bothered with the charm if it was just a normal crush. But this isn't what I would call a normal crush."

"And why is that?" Audrey asked, her curiosity building up again.

"Um, let's just say, the person is a little… different."

"Well, tell me already!"

"Aw, Audrey, you know how shy I get about these kinds of things!" I said, giggling again. Unfortunately, I tend to become shy and very giggly when telling someone about a crush for the first time. I don't know why it happens, it just does. There must be something in my genetics. Audrey is used to it though, she is usually the one who has to guess who the guy is because I feel weird just saying straight out. And in this case, considering that my crush is at least something like fifteen years older than me, I have even more reason to nervous about telling her.

"I'm going to have to guess, aren't I?" she said, exasperated, though amused.

"Yes," I said smiling innocently.

"It isn't Oliver, is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"No! Of course not!" I said, taken-back, "Trust me, he's all _yours_."

"Right," she said thoughtfully, "Is it Albion Ward?"

"Nope."

"Blyth Moore?"

"Nope."

"Gratian Edeson?"

"Double nope!"

"Percy Weasley?"

"Serious guesses only please."

"Marcus Flint?"

"Eww!" I cried emphatically, "That's like, a crime against humanity!"

"I know," Audrey chuckled, "But I ran out of ideas. Isn't this the point I give up and you start describing him?"

"Yeh it is," I agreed half-heatedly. It was always fun to listen to her guesses, "Okay, well, he has light brown hair and yes, he's kinda poor looking, he's really nice… we only meet him this week…" I let my voice trail off as Audrey started looking at me disbelievingly.

"The only person who fits that description is Lupin," she said skeptically, "and even _you_, Faylinn, are not that weird."

"Good guess!" I said cheerfully, ignoring her skepticism, "took you long enough."

"What, you're not serious, are you?" she asked, looking alarmed.

"Um, actually, yeh, I am," I said self-consciously.

Audrey gawped at me with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Fay, he's a _teacher_," she said, whispering the last word as though it was cursed.

"I know, trust me, I reacted that way too, but, well, you know, sure, he's a teacher," I rambled, "but he's a really _good-looking_ teacher, and he's really nice too… and his smile is just _gorgeous_," I added, sighing deeply.

"Argh, please, stop," Audrey said, looking slight repulsed, "Fay, listen to yourself. You have a crush on a _teacher_. He must be like, what, fifteen years older than us?"

"Yeh, I know," I said quickly, "But, I mean, it's just a silly crush, isn't it? Not like I'm in love with him or anything…"

"I guess…" Audrey said uncertainly.

"What harm can it do?" I pressed, "I'll probably get over it in a few weeks, you know me…"

"Knowing you, those few weeks will be full of annoying conversations about how cute he is, about whether he likes your hair worn up or down, about whether I agree that grey robes look better on him than black robes –"

"Alright, alright, I get the point," I mumbled.

"Good, I mean, it's bad enough when you go on like that, but seriously, when it's a _teacher_ you're talking about, that is just creepy."

"I know," I sighed, "I'll try to be considerate."

"Thanks."

"So…" I said, trying to suppress a grin, "Do you think he's married?"

"Argh!" Audrey cried, desperately blocking her ears with her hands, as I laughed heartedly at her reaction.


	3. Appointments

"There will be no potion brewing in today's class," said Professor Snape, his low voice carrying effortlessly across the large class.

I shivered slightly, pulling my scarf tighter around my neck. The dungeons were always cold, but especially so today, since no fires were lit under the cauldrons. I allowed Professor Snape's voice to be drowned out by the all too inviting thoughts of that mornings DADA class. Professor Lupin had complimented me on my excellent homework and when Blyth Moore had asked him whose patronus he liked best, he had said good-naturedly that he liked all patronus' but that "I've never quite seen a swan as elegant as Faylinn's." His comment, combined with the twinkle in his eye as he said it literally made me weak at the knees, though I had successfully laughed it off and pretended to be only "mildly pleased" as Audrey had described it later.

"_Fay_," Audrey's urgent whisper brought me quickly out of my flashback. I looked around quickly and saw that most of the class was looking at me, Percy wearing a most disapproving expression.

"Now that you've kindly stopped staring at the blackboard so, uh, shall we say, _affectionately_, Ms Goodwill, do you know the answer?" Snape asked maliciously. The Slytherin students laughed, as they always did when Snape embarrassed a student. I simply stared at him, horrified, as a blush crept across my face. Had my thoughts shown on my face so clearly?

"Um, I'm sorry Professor, what was the question?" I asked, knowing fully well that Professor Snape already knew that I hadn't heard a word of his question.

"Five points from Gryffindor for day dreaming in class," he said almost lazily, "Now, the question was, what is the wolfsbane potion is used for?" he added, indicating slightly with his head at a cauldron containing a shimmering golden-green potion. The potion smoked slightly, giving off a faint smell that I could only liken to raw fish crossed with scrambled egg. I shivered slightly; I hate fish.

"Wolfsbane?" I asked; hold on, _I know this_, "Isn't, isn't that used for helping werewolves, on a full moon? Stops them from being dangerous?"

"Correct," said Snape sourly, obviously annoyed that I answered the question correctly. I looked over at Audrey, who mouthed "Well done".

"The wolfsbane potion is extremely complex, well beyond the NEWTs level. Like the Felix Felicis and amortentia, you will need to be able to recognize it and understand it's uses," he continued in his usual drawl of a voice, "Wolfsbane is a recent discovery, it allows the werewolf to keep his or her mind during the full moon, however it does not prevent the transformation, so the person will be a human in a wolves body, and more or less, harmless…"

The end of the lesson couldn't have come sooner; as much as I loved potions, I hated Snape, and after he had his go at me, I couldn't wait to leave the dungeons.

I walked with Audrey and the rest of the Gryffindors to the great hall for dinner; Oliver was raving about the Quidditch cup as usual, about how Potter is flying better than ever, about how the Weasley twins had superbly managed to knock him off his broom in practice last night (only Oliver could ever talk so ecstatically about being knocked of his broom, I thought rolling my eyes) and about other points that I really couldn't care less about. Audrey, however, was giving him her full attention, throwing in comments like "Is that right?" and "Oh, that's brilliant!" every time Oliver paused for breath, although I knew she couldn't really care less about Quidditch.

Suppressing a grin, I reached out to open the door leading into the Great Hall, only to find another hand knock into mine as it also reached to open the it.

"Sorry," I said as I looked up, "Acciden-"

The rest of the sentence was lost in my head when I saw who owned the hand that I had just hit. It was Professor Lupin.

"My apologies," he said gracefully. I stumbled backwards, lost for words, as he leaned forward to open the door. He smiled kindly (which made my heart feel weightless), held the door open and said,

"After you,"

"Thank you, Professor," I mumbled, avoiding his gaze and dragged a highly amused Audrey away from the raving Oliver and the rest of the Gryffindors and into a seat at the Gryffindor table.

"I thought we agreed that you were going to act cool around Lupin, you know, so he doesn't get suspicious?" Audrey asked as she started loading her plate with steak, "You've been doing well so far. What happened there?"

I stared at her, my eyes open wide.

"He _touched_ me," I whispered in reply.

"What?"

"He touched me, Audrey, he _touched_ me!" I said, my excitement growing with each second, "When I reached to open the door, he extended his hand at the same time, and our hands touched!"

Audrey rolled her eyes, "Get a grip, so he touched your hand for like a nanosecond."

I sighed dramatically, clutching my heart with the hand he touched, "A nanosecond I shall cherish forever."

Audrey pretended to vomit into her bowl, so I laughed and said, "Alright, alright, I was kidding. But yeh, you're right, I have been getting better at being around him, but it was just, you know, this time he kinda appeared out of nowhere and I wasn't ready and plus he touched me, so that was a bit of a shock…"

"Shock?" said Audrey smirking slightly, "A bit of an understatement, isn't it? You looked like you were about to swoon."

"_No_," I exclaimed in horror, "You're joking, right? Audrey, tell me it wasn't that obvious!"

Audrey laughed, "No, okay, it wasn't that bad, but you looked a little stunned when you first saw him… but I don't think he noticed because he turned quickly to open the door."

I let out a huge sigh of relief, "Bloody hell, you scared me, Aud, can you imagine, if he suspected anything? How embarrassing, I mean, really, a _teacher_…"

- - -

"Do you know what we are covering today?" I asked Audrey, as we waited for Professor Lupin to arrive to class.

"Nope," she replied without taking her eyes off her textbook. How she could find the resolve to study during the few minutes we have between classes was simply beyond me.

"Do you really need to study so much? You're making me feel bad," I asked teasingly.

Audrey finally looked up from her book, "In case you haven't realized, we are already one month into the term and are drowning in homework."

"Tell me about it," I sighed, "I haven't slept early in ages. But still, don't you think you're kinda over doing it? I mean, seriously, you don't need to study every minute of every hour…"

"Fay, I have two assignments due tomorrow, and I haven't finished either of them. McGonagall expected us to have read chapter 10 by the next class, and both her and Flitwick have set a test for us for this Friday, _and_ that's not to mention all the reading Professor Lupin has asked us to –"

"Alright, alright, I get the point," I said, giving up, "If you ever feel like living, for a change, just let me know."

Audrey stuck out her tongue playfully, but before she could get back to reading, Professor Lupin entered the room, smiling pleasantly, but, I noticed, looking very tired. I frowned slightly, as I took in his appearance, he looked a little paler than usual (thought still handsome), and his worn-out robes seemed to hang off him more loosely than usual.

"Are you feeling alright, Professor Lupin?" asked Percy Weasley, somehow managing too look very important as he did so.

"I'm fine, thank you, Percy," he said, with a reassuring smile, "I've been a little off colour lately, but I'm much better now."

Poor guy, I thought sympathetically, he must have been really ill to look so tired.

"Okay, so, before we get on with today's lesson, I would like to just let you know that Professor McGonagall and I have decided that, given how much subject material we need to cram in to one year, it would be best I saw each of you outside of class individually –"

He paused, smiling, as a number of people groaned loudly. I, however, was struggling to suppress a grin. Extra time outside of class with Professor Lupin, alone, was definitely time well spent.

"Yes, I did tell her this is how you would react. But I'm afraid it must be done, so I can monitor your progress to make sure no one is falling too far behind. Your appointments times –" he flicked his wand, aiming it at the blackboard, " – are on the board. Each appointment is scheduled for ten minutes, though they are unlikely to go for the full time."

My eyes raced over the board, looking for my name. October 30th, 5 pm. My smile faltered slightly; my appointment was a month away. Oh well, better than nothing…

"I'm this Friday!" Audrey moaned.

"Lucky you!" I muttered.

"_Lucky_? I don't have _time_ to do it this week. Do you think he will let me swap if I asked him?"

"Dunno…" I said, but then quickly realized something, "Try asking him after class, I'll come with you."

So, at the end of the class (a particularly interesting one about dealing with cursed objected), Audrey and I approached Professor Lupin, both of us knowing fully well that the only reason I suggested this was so I could get to look at Professor Lupin up close.

"How may I help you, girls?" he asked as we approached his desk, smiling at both of us. Such a gorgeous smile, I thought longingly. He has such smooth and shapely lips… I watched as he spoke to Audrey about the appointments, wondering what it would be like to kiss him, and knowing if I even mentioned Professor Lupin and the word kiss in the same sentence to Audrey she would probably knock me off one of the highest astronomy towers.

Realizing quickly that starring longingly at a teachers lips while standing less than a meter away from him was not a good idea, I shifty my gaze to his eyes. Up close, his eyes were more captivating than his smile; though I didn't have time to admire them, because they were soon focusing inquisitively on my own.

"Did you have a problem with your appointment, Faylinn?" he asked.

"No Professor," I said quickly, "It's fine."

"Thank you, Professor Lupin," Audrey said, as she turned to leave the room.

"Any time," he replied as he flicked through a pile of parchment sitting on his desk.

I followed Audrey out of the room, thinking privately that the 30th of October couldn't come soon enough.


	4. Boggarts

The month passed quicker than I expected, and many hours of long, hard study and not much fun later, I found myself standing outside Professor Lupins office, hurriedly checking my appearance for what Audrey would instant must have been the hundredth time in the last hour.

Hair? Check. Robes? Check? No crumbs on mouth? Double check. Seductive smile? Sigh, not this time.

Putting away my mirror, I knocked loudly on Professor Lupins office door, taking a moment to admire the golden plaque that read "Professor R. J. Lupin" as it glistened softly in the waning sunlight.

"Come in," called back a voice that I knew too well.

I entered the room, closing the door behind me.

"Good evening, Professor Lupin," I said pleasantly, taking in his appearance. His hair was slightly dishevelled, as though he had run his fingers though it a few times. I liked it though, it suited him, and made him look younger, closer to the age I knew he must be.

"Ah, Faylinn," he said as he stood up from behind his desk, beckoning for me to take a seat, "If you would just take a seat, I just need to grab some files."

I sat down in a comfortable chair across his desk, looking around the office while he pulled down a folder from one of the shelves behind his desk. It wasn't as cluttered as the other teachers' offices, but it was neat and very homely. There was a large wooden trunk on one of the shelves to my right which was labelled 'boggart'. I grimaced slightly; remembering how much I had been teased back in third year about the form my boggart assumed.

Lupin sat down again, setting the folder on his desk.

"I'll try not to take too much of your time, Faylinn, I can imagine you must be very busy with study," he said.

I smiled warmly, "Oh, I don't mind Professor, take as long as you need."

Seriously, I thought, as _long_ as you need…

"Okay, so how are you finding the classes? Are they interesting, too difficult...?" he inquired.

"They are great, definitely interesting, and I wouldn't say they are too difficult," I answered truthfully.

"Was there anything you found particularly interesting or worth while?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Well," I thought for a moment, taking slightly longer to answer because of the intoxicating effect of being alone with someone so handsome, "I liked the class on patronus."

"Ah," said Lupin, smiling knowingly, "Yes, I particularly liked that class myself. You cast a very strong patronus. I imagine you must have found a very happy memory to use to cast the charm?"

"Yeh," I said, smiling apologetically, "Um, the memory of the day it was announced that Lockhart was leaving, actually."

Lupin chuckled good-naturedly, "Yes, I've heard a few people talk rather fondly about that day."

My heart fluttered slightly; I made him laugh. Oh, I _love_ it when he laughs…

"Now, about the homework," he said, as he flicked through the folder he had taken down from the shelf earlier. He came to a stop at a page that had my name written at the top.

"Your marks are all excellent," he commented, looking up briefly to smile encouragingly at me before returning to study the list, "Nothing of concern. How have you been finding the homework?"

"It isn't hard or anything, it's just –" I hesitated, not wanting to criticize him, but he nodded, encouraging me to continue, "well, it's just a lot, really. More than other subjects."

"Mmm, yes, I understand that," he said, absentmindedly stroking his chin with the tip of his quill (an act that made him look positively gorgeous, I might add), "But I'm sure you appreciate that it is needed, given the Lockhart, er, _fiasco_."

"I understand," I said quickly, "but it's just a lot of work, you know, I mean, its NEWTs and we just have so much work to do, and so little time to, you know, enjoy ourselves," I added with a shrug.

"I've had that from a lot of students… I'll see if there is anything I can do about," he offered, "Now, is there anything you wanted to add, and comments about the class, my teaching style, anything?"

Other, I thought to myself, than how hard it is to focus on the class when you're standing up there looking so gorgeous, you mean?

"Not really, but it's just great to finally have a decent DADA Professor," I said honestly, enjoying the genuine smile and twinkling in Lupins eye in response to that statement.

"Thank you, Faylinn," he said softly, "That means a lot to me. Just before you leave, if you don't mind, I just have one more question."

"Yes?" I asked cautiously, wondering where this was headed.

"I've notice, and please forgive me if am wrong," he said hastily, "but you seem, ah, slightly reserved in class. I've spoken to some other Professors and they have reassured me that you are very involved and active in their classes, but I never see any of that. I've also noticed that you seem, for lack of a better word, and again, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you do sometimes seem intimidated by me in class. I mean, I would hate to think that I make you uncomfortable… could you perhaps explain or correct this?"

Oh dear… bloody hell, I thought, taken aback by the frankness of his question. Am I _that_ obvious? Reserved? Maybe because I'm too scared to actually say anything in case I embarrass myself… intimidated? No, I believe that would be just being temporarily dazzled by your smile…

"I, um, I –" I stuttered not really knowing what to say. The truth, for obvious reasons, was out of the question.

Professor Lupin watched with polite curiosity, and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"I, I'm –" I searched my brain desperately for some kind of answer, "I'm shy," I said finally.

"Sorry?" he asked politely, still watching me curiously.

"I'm, er, shy… around new people," I said. Well it's wasn't a blatant lie… I can be shy… sometimes, though generally around people I have a hopeless crush on, not strangers, "I'm more comfortable with the other professors because they've been teaching my since first year…"

Professor Lupin smiled, "Ah, okay. So it isn't anything personal?"

Oh yes, I thought, it's very, very personal…

"No, Professor, not at all," I said, smiling guiltily, "You were worried?"

"I admit I was slightly worried that I had done something to offend you. I'm glad it isn't the case," he said, "Well if you've nothing more to add, I daresay you're eager to get a start on the essay I set yesterday."

"Oh," I said, standing up and smiling slightly, "I've finished that already, actually."

"Already?" he asked, looking taken aback, "Impressive."

"Thanks," I replied as I followed him to the door, "Audrey insisted –"

"PEEVES!"

An angry voice cut me off; I recognised it at once as belonging to Filch. It seemed to be coming from above. It was followed immediately by a ground-shattering bang from above, and the very walls of Lupins office shook. There was another loud thud; this it come from inside the office. I gasped, startled by the sound, jumped back and hit Professor Lupin forcefully in the stomach with my elbow and he fell down onto the floor.

I turned around frantically to apologise, but froze mid-spin when I realised what had made the loud thud.

The boggart trunk – it had fallen off the shelf when the office shook. And it was _open_.

Frozen, I watched in horror as two very bony and wrinkled hands reached out from the trunk, followed swiftly by the one of the most horrific, yet oddly beautiful, witches I had ever seen. Her elbow-length black hair was a wild tangle, her skin was deathly white and stretched taut across her face, making her inky black eyes extremely prominent. She wore exceptionally old-fashioned and worn out black robes.

I was terrified; I knew exactly who she was. She had haunted my childhood dreams for years. The witch held out one of her horrible hands, and in it was a single shining red apple. She was offering it to me. I didn't take it, I just stared, vaguely aware that behind me Professor Lupin was quickly rising to his feet.

I reached fearfully for my wand, my hands trembling, but the boggart-witch was quicker; she pointed her wand directly at me and cried,

"_Imperio_!"

The spell hit me before I could react, and I was immediately over come by a sense of light-headed peace.

"Eat the apple," I heard a coarse voice demand.

"Thank you," I said dreamily, "I like apples."

I took the apple from the witch and bit into it immediately, ignoring the voice in the back ground screaming, "Faylinn, don't!"

And then, everything was black.

* * *

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	5. Prince Charming

Slowly, I regained consciousness, and the whiteness of the hospital wing blinded my eyes. I immediately tried to blink, but to my horror, I could not. I tried again, but as hard as I tried I could not blink. I tried to speak, but my muscles would not respond.

Realising that I could not move at all, I panicked, fear and confusion spreading through out my body. What was I doing here? And then I remembered – the boggart! I ate the bloody apple! But everything is okay now, I assured myself, I'm in the hospital wing, that's a start. The boggart-witch is gone.

I appeared to be lying down in a bed in the hospital wing, with my back propped back against some pillows, and my eyes were focused dully on the wall in front of me.

Two sets of loud foot steps interrupted my thoughts. Then, a voice.

"Where is she?" Audrey's panicked voice echoed through out the silent hospital wing.

"Over here," I heard Lupin reply softly, and then call out, "Poppy? I'm back with her friend."

From the corner of my eye I could see Audrey slowly approaching my bed. She reached my side, and took my hand in hers.

"Faylinn?" she asked uncertainly.

The panic in her voice, for some reason, calmed me. Perhaps it was because I knew that I was fine – other than the obvious fact that I could not move. I hated to see her worry like this and I hated the fact that I could do nothing to calm her.

She put my hand softly down on to the bed when Madam Pomfrey entered the room. I watched her from the corner of my eye; she held a massive brown leather bound book. It looked ancient.

"Is she going to be okay, Madam Pomfrey?" Audrey asked anxiously.

"She's fine, dear, she's appears to be temporarily paralysed," she replied.

I heard Audrey gasp, and if I weren't paralysed, I would have rolled my eyes. Being paralysed hardly classified as 'fine'.

"But you can fix her, can't you?" came Audrey's horrified voice from my left.

"Of course," said Professor Lupin reassuringly, stepping forward. I could see him clearly now. His hair was even more dishevelled than before, and he looked worried, "But we just need you to help us. Faylinn's boggart, it was a witch, and she was forced under the imperious curse to bit an apple. She fainted immediately, but her eyes remained open. I've never seen anything like it, nor has Madam Pomfrey. Do you know what it was?"

"Boggart?" Audrey said faintly.

"It was a boggart that did this, but do you understand her boggart?" Professor Lupin pressed, "You are her closest friend, surely…?"

"Yes, that – that's the witch, the Queen – from… that muggle film," Audrey said slowly, her tone heavy with realisation, "Of course! Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, I think she said it was called. Yes, that was always her boggart, we found out in third year..."

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks, and wondered vaguely whether being paralysed would stop me from blushing. Yes, the witch always had been my boggart, her and that horrible poisoned apple…

"Snow white?" inquired Madam Pomfrey, "I've never heard of it."

Professor Lupin shook his head, "Nor have I."

"No, it's a muggle cartoon," Audrey explained, "Fay is muggle born, so she knows about these things, she explained it to me. Snow White was a beautiful princess, her mother died when she was young and her father remarried. The Queen – her step mother – was jealous of her, well, long story short, she poisoned her with an apple. That must mean Fay is under the effect of the poison, doesn't it? If she ate the apple…"

"Yes, it seems so," Professor Lupin agreed, his brow furrowed in concentration, "What happens next? Is there a cure for the poison mentioned in the story?"

"Umm," Audrey paused, trying to remember. Come on, Audrey, I thought, encouraging her silently in my head, I've explained this to you more than once.

"Yes, yes – I remember! Theres a prince, a prince kisses her, and she wakes up!" Audrey said excitedly, "Do you think that's it, someone has to kiss her?"

Professor Lupin looked uncertainly at Madam Pomfrey, who said, "Give me a minute, I'll need to look this up in my muggle-related injuries encyclopaedia."

There was silence as Audrey and Professor Lupin waited nervously for Madam Pomfrey to return. I already knew that Audrey was right – it was the only logical way. Someone will have to kiss me. My heart started beating fast at the thought – I won't even get a _choice_. Argh, anyone but Marcus Flint. It's a good thing Audrey is here, she won't let them throw a troll at me…

Foot steps signalled that Madam Pomfrey had returned to the room.

"I've found it!" she said happily.

"What does it say?" Audrey asked quickly, jumping up and almost knocking over Madam Pomfrey in an attempt to read over her shoulder.

"Calm down, calm down," Madam Pomfrey said bossily, "Right, it says here that there have been a number of recorded Snow White boggarts over the last few centuries, and in all cases the girl was revived by a kiss."

Audrey sighed audibly, "That's a relief!"

For you maybe, I thought bitterly, I'm the one on the receiving end!

"But Faylinn doesn't have a boyfriend, does she? Who should do it?" inquired Professor Lupin.

My heart fluttered slightly as I allowed myself to enjoy a brief, though admittedly far-fetched, image of Lupin being the one to kiss me. Sigh, a girl can dream, right?

"According to the book, there are some conditions needed in the male and the kiss. He must be older than the girl, because a prince is always older than his princess, and the kiss has to last at least thirty seconds. As soon as his lips touch hers, she will be able to move, but she has to kiss back for the whole thirty seconds, otherwise, if the kiss is broken before that, she will be under the influence of the poison again. And there has to be some degree of passion," she added, almost as an after thought.

A stunned silence followed this announcement.

"But – Madam Pomfrey, if Fay wakes up, and finds someone kissing her, won't, won't she back away immediately?" Audrey asked worriedly, "I mean, it's a pretty alarming thing to wake up to."

"Audrey is right," agreed Lupin, wearing a concerned expression.

I watched Madam Pomfrey skim through the page, "Here," she muttered, her finger stopping at the bottom of the page, "It says, _the witch under the influence of the poison appears to be sleeping with open eyes, however is actually conscious. She can see, hear, smell and feel as any waking person can, but is simply not able to voluntarily move a muscle_."

"So she can hear us!" Audrey squealed, and she ran up to my side, sticking her face in front of mine.

"You'll be fine, Fay, don't panic, we'll find you someone decent to kiss, and I know what your thinking, don't worry, I won't let Marcus Flint _anywhere_ near you!"

If I could have moved I would have laughed heartedly, but instead contented myself with a mental note to give Audrey a big slab of Honeydukes chocolate once I can move again.

Behind her, Professor Lupin had conjured a large piece of parchment, and was skimming through it intently.

"Right, it seems that there are only five male students older than Faylinn," he muttered, "Theres Percy Weasley –"

Not Percy, I thought desperately, anyone but pompous Percy!

"He has a girlfriend, Professor," Audrey said quickly.

Audrey, you life saver! Make that two slabs of chocolate.

" – Oliver Wood –"

"He, uh, he," Audrey stumered. I listened to her, amused, knowing she would never let him kiss me. Not that I would want him to do it either.

"Ah, actually he's away for today, at his sisters wedding," Lupin said.

Audrey let out a sigh of relief.

"How about Albion Ward?"

"He has a girlfriend too…"

"Marcus Flint?"

"She'll probably vomit as soon his lips touch hers."

"Then that leaves only Damian Kreb."

"Uh, he's even worse than Flint."

Lupin looked up frowning, "You're sure none of them will do? They are the only options we have."

"Not so fast, Remus," said Madam Pomfrey, "You're forgetting the staff."

"The – the staff?" Lupin stumered disbelievingly.

"Yes, they are all older than her," Madam Pomfrey said, looking thoughtful.

"But, surely – _who_?" asked Lupin, his tone suggestion that he was horrified by the suggestion, "Dumbledore, Flitwick, Filch and Hagrid are all much too old, and Severus, why, I doubt he would do it if we paid him!"

"He'll make her vomit anyway," said Audrey quickly, clearly trying to put a stop to any horrific suggestions of Snape kissing her best friend.

"Thank you, Audrey," said Lupin, looking relieved, "See, Poppy, we'll need to stick to one of the students."

"You're forgetting someone, Professor," Audrey said quietly.

My heart was pounding, my mind racing with wild thoughts. Did Audrey mean who I thought she did?

"Who?" Lupin asked, looking confused.

"Er, well, _you_, professor," she replied timidly.


	6. Just a Little Kiss

From the corner of my eye, I could just make out Professor Lupin's reaction. For a moment, he stood still, as though he had just been petrified. He then regained his composure, laughed nervously, and said,

"I'm very sure Faylinn would much rather be kissed by _any_ one of those five boys than me, Audrey," he stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't think so, Professor," Audrey replied earnestly, "Flint and Kreb are 100 out of the question, she can't stand Percy and he has a girlfriend anyway, she doesn't get along well with Ward and his girlfriend is very, very protective and would hex Fay to oblivion if Ward so much as winked at her – as for Oliver, well, he might have been an option but he's not at school, and we can't wait that long for him to return."

_I love you_ _Audrey_, I thought, my heart racing faster than ever, ten blocks of you chocolate for you!

Professor Lupin looked still looked unconvinced, and turned to Madam Pomfrey for help.

"Poppy, please, you must have some suggestion?"

Madam Pomfrey considered him for a moment, "If what Audrey has said about the students is true – and I believe it is – then I agree with her, you're our best option, Professor."

"And you are single, aren't you, Professor?" Audrey asked.

"Yes, but –" he began.

"Then what's the problem, Professor?" she asked, cutting him off.

"But- but, I –" he stuttered, looking hopelessly between the two very determined faces of the women standing besides him, "She wouldn't _want_ to kiss me though; she has to kiss back doesn't she? I highly doubt she would want this. We should go for someone younger, someone more handsome –"

"Nonsense, Remus," said Madam Pomfrey sternly, "You are more than handsome enough!"

"It's true Professor," Audrey nodded, "I know Fay, and if it was a choice between any of those boys, the other staff members or you, she would rather kiss you than the others. Not that she'd enjoy it," she added hurriedly, lying through her teeth, "But I'm sure she won't object, considering that it can't be fun, you know, being parallelized and all…"

"But isn't it _illegal_?" he asked desperately, "I'm her _teacher_, after all."

"This is a special case professor," Madam Pomfrey countered, "I know the law, it will be permitted, and she _is_ seventeen anyway."

"I'm not convinced," he said stubbornly, "I say we call Dumbledore – ask for his opinion."

"Very well," Madam Pomfrey muttered disapprovingly as she walked away from my bed, still holding the ancient book, and disappeared out of sight. A few moments later, the white walls of the hospital wing were flickering under the influence of a green light, and Madam Pomfrey's voice could be heard saying,

"Dumbledore's office!"

A minutes silence passed, filled only with the sound of Professor Lupin's foot steps as he paced aimlessly across the room, and the sounds of Audrey anxiously drumming her fingers against the wall.

Then, with more flashes of green light, two sets of foot steps grew louder as Madam Pomfrey, joined by the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, approached my bed. Professor Lupin stopped pacing at once.

Professor Dumbledore stood by my bed, examined me with his piercing blue eyes for a few moments, then turned to Professor Lupin and said,

"Poppy has explained the circumstances to me, Remus," he said, with the faintest hint of amusement in his voice, "and I do agree that Miss Audrey Parker is correct in saying that you are the best man for the, ah, task."

I held my breath, waiting, for his response, hoping…

Lupin sighed loudly, "I have no choice, do I?" he said.

"You'll do it?" Audrey asked excitedly.

"If I must," he muttered, recognising defeat.

Yes! I thought, finally drawing breath. Professor Lupin, Professor _R. J. Lupin_ is going to kiss me! _Me_! And I have to kiss back as passionately as I want, all in the name of being cured! Is this a dream come true, or what?

Professor Dumbledore excused himself and returned to his office, while Madam Pomfrey stood besides me and brushed my fringe out of my eyes.

"Faylinn dear, I know you can hear me. We need you to kiss Professor Lupin back, and hold the kiss for thirty seconds; it is the only way we know that can cure the poison from the apple. Wait for me to say you can stop, otherwise, if you pull away before that, you will remain paralysed."

She patted my hand, and called for Lupin to come forward. He approached, and from the corner of my eye I could see that he looked nervous.

"Audrey, look away please, and you too Poppy, after you've started your stop watch, look away."

"Shy, are you?" said Madam Pomfrey sceptically, raising an eyebrow, "You never used to mind who saw you kissing that Rose girl back when you were a student here. Why, the number of times she snuck in to be with you –"

"Poppy, _please_, is this really the time?" he said exasperatedly, "Just look away, please?"

"Okay, okay,"

Professor Lupin leaned forward slightly; his face was about thirty centimetres from mine.

"Faylinn, I'm very sorry about this – I feel like I'm abusing you somehow. But I have no choice, I hope you understand."

My heart was racing, beating loudly, uncomfortably against my chest. A nervous sensation spread through my body, as I waited…

Professor Lupin leaned forward slowly, hesitantly. The wait was agonising; until finally, his soft, warm lips touched mine. Instantly, I regained control of my body, and pressed my lips against his, kissing him softly. He kissed back gently, resting one of his hands on my shoulder. Daringly, I raised my own right hand to his neck, allowing his hair to fall around my fingers, taking pleasure in the softness of his skin. I deepened the kiss and he obliged. Bloody hell, the man is a great kisser, I thought. I let my tongue trace his lips lightly; wondering if I was going too far, and assuring myself I could pass if off in the pretence of being passionate, as Madam Pomfrey had said we needed to be.

And then, finally, all too soon, Madam Pomfrey's voice shattered the silence, calling for us to stop, and Professor Lupin pulled away immediately, his cheek tinged pink as he regained his breath, not looking anyone in the eye.

Audrey rushed to my side immediately, her eyes dancing mischievously.

"Are you alright, Fay?" she asked.

"Fine," I said, breathing heavily, "Fine."

Checking to see that the adults weren't looking, I quickly flashed Audrey a huge grin and mouthed the words thank you.

Audrey nodded understandingly, trying to suppress a giggle.

Madam Pomfrey came forward and asked a few questions, checking to make sure I was okay. I assured her that I felt as good as ever, and she reluctantly said that I could leave the hospital wing.

As I got out of bed my eyes darted straight to Professor Lupin. He stood a few meters away, staring unseeingly at the floor, looking worried.

I approached him shyly, vainly trying to fight back the blush that was all but engulfing my cheeks, while resisting the urge to kiss him again.

"Umm, P-Professor Lupin?"

He looked up quickly at being addressed and frowned slightly.

"Faylinn, I'm very, very sorry I had to put you through that –" he began.

"It's okay, Professor," I said, cutting him off, "Someone had to do it. It isn't your fault that other candidates were so, er, horrible. I – I can, ah, survive," I added in what I hoped was a casual voice.

He nodded awkwardly, and said, "I'm still sorry. I mean, you didn't even get a chance to voice your own opinion. I can imagine it would be horrible to have had this forced upon you."

"Well," I said shrugging casually, "It's better than being paralysed."

"I suppose," he said, though doubtfully, "I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about – about what just happened, Faylinn."

"Of course, Professor," I agreed quickly, privately thinking that the only person I would have wanted to spill my guts too already saw the whole thing.

"Right, well, I best be off," he said, with the air of a man wanting desperately to flee, "And I apologise again. I'll see you both at our next class."

He nodded briskly, turned swiftly and made his way out of the hospital wing, closing the door behind him.

Checking quickly to see that Madam Pomfrey was out of sight, I turned to Audrey and let out an excited yell, hugging her tightly.

"I love you, Audrey! You're the best!"

She shrugged, grinning broadly, "You know it's still gross, don't you? You kissed a _teacher_."

"He's gorgeous! Oh, Audrey, he's the most amazing kisser, seriously, it was just –" I raved, but Audrey held up her hand against my mouth.

"Please, I don't need to hear it!" she insisted.

"Okay, but I mentally promised you ten slabs of honeydukes best chocolate while you were convincing Lupin," I said, still grinning serenely as we made our out of the hospital wing, "And tomorrow is Halloween – Hogsmeade day. I'm sure you want to hear about _that_, don't you?"

"Mmm," she said, smiling cheekily, "You've got my attention…"


	7. The Leak

The next morning Audrey and I treated ourselves to a nice sleep in; we had decided the night before to skip breakfast with the rest of the school and have an early lunch at Hogsmeade instead.

"It's so _cold_," Audrey complained as we made our way down the road that led to the village, "Come on, let's not stay too long, we have so much homework waiting for us back in the common room…"

"Okay, let's go to Honeydukes first the, shall we?" I suggested, pulling my cloak more tightly around my body, "I can get you your ten slabs of chocolate. Mind you, don't eat them all in one day; I don't want to be the one dragging you off to the hospital wing."

Audrey laughed, "Tell you what, how about you make it six slabs of chocolate instead, and a muffin and butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Anything for you Audrey, after last night, you could probably ask me for a Firebolt and I wouldn't say no," I said, feeling a familiar tingling sensation run through my stomach as I remember the kiss…

We arrived at the village shortly after, and made our way straight to Honeydukes, where I let Audrey choose her favourite blokes of chocolate while I stood besides her, daydreaming. I noticed a few of the younger students shooting inquisitive glances at me, some of them smirking. I assumed they thought that I must look rather foolish standing in the middle store daydreaming, so I focused my attention on helping Audrey choose her chocolate instead (which was a difficult task – the girl takes her chocolate very seriously).

Our robes loaded with chocolate, we made our way to the Three Broomsticks, which was packed with students, as always. I bought a muffin and butterbeer each for Audrey and myself, and set of to join her at a table for two at the back of room. On my way, I noticed that Marcus Flint was sitting with a group of Slytherins, and for some reason he was smirking with an evil glint in his eye.

"Audrey," I said, as I sat down across her, "Why on earth is Marcus Flint smirking at me as though Christmas has come early?"

Audrey looked across the room at Flint, who was now talking animatedly with his friends.

"Was he?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeh, it was weird," I said, "Anyway, forget him, we better finish these quickly, and get back to the castle. I really need to get started on McGonagall's essay…"

We chatted casually for the next twenty minutes about the usual; the overwhelming homework load, prefect duties, the escaped prisoner Sirius Black, whether Oliver ever notices any girls who are not on his Quidditch team ("I mean, honestly, the way he talks about his three chasers, you'd think he was ready to marry them _all, _if it weren't that he was so in love with Potter"), and the occasional mention or two of Professor Lupin, though Audrey tended to cut me off if ever tried to discuss the kiss with her or if I spent too long speculating about who that Rose girl was. Occasionally, I would look around the room, and, to my confusion, there was always a person or two looking at me – some of them were sneering, others giggling, and yet some wore looks of pure loathing.

"Audrey," I said, after receiving a very unpleasant look from a fifth year Ravenclaw girl, "People are staring at me."

"I know," she said, looking around the room quickly, "I've noticed it too. You haven't got something stuck on your robes, have you?"

"No," I said shaking my very confused head, "I've already checked. Come on, let's just go, this is getting annoying."

Audrey gulped down the last of her butterbeer, and we set off to the door, but before we reached it, a voice shouted out,

"Hey, Goodwill," I turned around to see Marcus Flint sneering stupidly at me, his unnaturally large and uneven teeth more prominently than ever.

"Fancy a kiss?" he asked daringly, so loudly that most students in the pub were now looking either at him or me.

I raised an eyebrow, revolted, and said, "_What_?"

"Ah, come on, don't be so frigid," his friend, Damian Kreb, added jeeringly.

"Yeh, you let Lupin kiss you last night, didn't you?" Flint said loudly. "I assure I'm a better kisser than _him_."

There was a moment's stunned silence in the pub as I stood there, my mouth hanging wide open, starring disbelievingly at Flint. _How did he know?_

Then, moments later, the students in the pub were roaring with laughter; some had fallen off their seats, others were crying tears of mirth.

I felt Audrey grab my arm, and drag me outside. She slammed the door shut just as some fourth year Slytherin boys started cat-calling.

I stared at her, speechless.

"Come on," she said gently, let's go back up to the castle."

"But – but – how did he _know_?" I stummered, allowing Audrey to drag me forward, "_How_? We haven't told anyone!"

"Word must have got round amongst the staff – I mean, Lupin wouldn't say anything, of course, but he didn't ask Madam Pomfrey or Dumbledore to keep it quiet did he... and I assume someone must have informed McGonagall, she's our head of house…"

"But _Flint_?" I asked.

"He must have over heard it somehow…" she said thoughtfully, her eyes full sympathy, "And I think others know too, it would explain why you've been getting funny looks all day…"

"Oh no," I moaned, grabbing my head in my arms, "Audrey, this is horrible, I'm going to be the laughing stock of the whole school!"

"It's alright, Fay," she said soothingly, "I'm sure most people won't care –"

"Won't care? I kissed a teacher!" I cried, "And do they even know _why_ it happened? You know how gossip goes at Hogwarts, people are probably saying I tried to seduce him during my meeting with him, or – or –"

At that moment, I was cut off by a group of young Ravenclaw girls, who were giggling frantically as they walked past us, most of them looking at me.

"See?" I said angrily to Audrey.

Audrey looked away from me and grabbed one of the girls by the arm.

"What?" the little girl asked, still giggling stupidly.

"Why are you laughing at Faylinn?" Audrey demanded, "Does this have something to do with Lupin?"

I felt myself blushing as the girls started laughing even more. The one who Audrey had grabbed spoke first.

"Yes, obviously," she said, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

"What did you hear?" Audrey asked.

"Well," said one of the other girls, speaking directly to me, "We don't know the details, but word going around the Ravenclaw table this morning was that you came across a boggart and it force feed you an apple or something, and you couldn't move after you ate it and the only way you could get cured was by being snogged… and that Lupin was the one who did it!"

Her bright brown eyes widened as she said those last words, looked expectantly at me, as though expecting me to confirm or deny.

I merely grunted vaguely, and continued walking back up to the castle. So, most of the school has probably heard something by now…

"On the bright side," Audrey said quietly, "At least they know more or less the truth, and not some fanciful version."

"But they didn't know Lupin was like the last resort did they?" I said glumly, "And how am I meant to face Lupin now? It was bad enough having to face him knowing that we've kissed before, but now I have to face him knowing that the whole school knows we've kissed!"

"I think Lupin will understand – he's probably going to suffer as much as you anyway."

"Audrey, how can you be so calm?" I asked hysterically.

But before Audrey could reply, she was cut off by two girls who I recognised as Hufflepuff fourth years, who approached us as we walked past Zonko's.

"Uh, hello. You're Faylinn, aren't you?" the taller of the two asked. She had a full head of curly blonde hair.

"Yes," I replied, eyeing the girls suspiciously.

"We heard you kissed Professor Lupin," asked the other, her blue eyes wide with curiosity.

I sighed loudly, "Yes, but –"

The girls gasped, the blonde clasped her hands to her mouth.

"You're so _lucky_!" said the girl with blue eyes, now wearing an expression that could only be jealousy.

Audrey and I looked at each other, and judging by her expression, she was stunned as I was.

"What?" I asked blankly.

"Professor Lupin is just _so_ handsome!" said the blonde dreamily.

"Was he a good kisser? I bet he was great."

Audrey snorted loudly, and rolled her eyes at the two girls.

"Uhh…" I said blankly, finding it difficult to register that I was not the only girl in the school who had a crush on Professor Lupin. How many others were there? At any rate, I was not about to tell them just how good a kisser he was, but at the same time, I did not want to say he was lousy either.

"I wasn't really paying attention to be honest, you know, I was poisoned at the time…" I said, "Anyway, we've got to get going."

I grabbed Audrey by the arm and we walked quickly away, before the two girls had a chance to say anything else.

"I can't believe this," I said, laughing for the first time since we left the three broom sticks, "I never thought there would be others who fancied Professor Lupin too!"

"Me neither," said Audrey, shaking her head, "It's a scary thought, really."

Ignoring the snide remark, I said, "I wonder how many others are going to get all jealous? I hope no one tries to hex me!"

"Don't be silly," Audrey said, grimacing, as though it was the most horrible thing in the world that students would get jealous over a teacher, "Come on, let's just get back to Gryffindor tower, we've got so much homework to do…"


	8. The Break In

Professor Lupin entered the staff room, ten minutes early for the morning's staff meeting. As he expected, most teachers were already there, given that the students were in Hogsmeade.

"Good morning," he said quietly, as he sat down at the end of the long staff table closest to the door. Those closest to him could see that he looked tired.

"Morning, Remus," replied Professor McGonagall, putting down her copy of the Daily Prophet, "You weren't at breakfast this morning, is everything alright?"

Lupin smiled half-heartedly, "As fine as they can be Minerva, given the circumstances..."

Professor McGonagall looked like she was about to say something, but was cut of by Professor Snape.

"Yes, I can imagine," he said coldly, his eye fixed on Remus, "It must be very hard work, kissing students."

Professor Lupin stopped smiling instantly, and looked at Snape in shock.

"Severus, _really_," said Professor McGonagall sternly, "That was –"

"How do _you_ know?" asked Lupin, frowning at Snape.

"Dear me, Lupin. Not _everything_ can be kept secret, you know," Snape replied sneeringly.

"Remus," Professor McGonagall cut in, "Severus was informed because one his students from Slytherin overheard Poppy informing me about it in the hospital wing."

Lupin groaning, resting his head in hands. A slight blush could be seen on his cheeks. "Which student?" he asked, in a voice suggesting that he did not really want to know.

"Draco Malfoy."

"Wonderful," he muttered sarcastically, "The boy can't stand me. I assume the whole school knows by now?"

"I've put him in detention, if that is any consolation," replied Professor McGonagall, her expression uncharacteristically sympathetic, "We did make him promise not to tell anyone, needless to say, he didn't listen."

"And did he know which student it was?" asked Lupin, now looking concerned.

"The one you kissed, you mean?"

"Yes,"

"Yes, I'm afraid he over heard that too," replied Professor McGonagall, her lips thinning dangerously.

"This is all my fault, I should never have agreed," he muttered, "It was probably horrific enough for her that I was forced to kiss her – now for the whole school to know? How is she taking this?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Remus, you had no choice," she replied, while giving a sneering Snape a reproachful look, "And Faylinn didn't appear at breakfast this morning, so I don't know if she knows yet – but it is only a matter of time."

"She's going to hate me," Lupin said simply, shaking his head.

- - -

The afternoon passed without anymore confrontations as Audrey and I studied in the common room. True, some of the first and second years shot me funny looks, but no one actually said anything. That is, of course, until we joined the rest of the school for the Halloween feast.

Audrey and I made our way across the Entrance Hall, discussing the essay we were almost finished for McGonagall, when a menacing voice called out,

"Hey, Goodwill! Why'd you leave Hogsmeade early, or did you have a snogging session with Lupin?"

Audrey and I whirled around to see who had spoken – I did not need to see his face, I already knew that drawling voice well. Draco Malfoy stood, smirking, with a pug-faced girl I recognised as Pansy Parkinson, and two thuggish looking boys whose name I did not know. My face flushed red as the students in the entrance hall laughed.

"Shut it, Malfoy," I replied coldly.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" Malfoy asked, smirking more than ever, "Did he break up with you?"

"Watch it, Malfoy, I'm a prefect," I said warningly, pointing at my badge, "If you don't get inside the hall now, it will be detention."

Malfoy scowled, "Don't you threaten me, you filthy Mudblood."

There was a roar of outrage, Audrey pulled out her wand, while most of the students who had been laughing before were looking at Malfoy with anger and dsigust.

"_Detention_, Malfoy," I said with a satisfied smirk of my own, "And I'll be reporting this to your head of house."

I turned away from him, set to make my way into the great hall, when he called out again.

"Wait, don't you want to know how we all found out?"

I turned around; my eyes narrowed, "And how would _you_ know?" I asked.

He chuckled menacingly; I could tell he was annoyed at being put in detention, "I over heard Madam Pomfrey telling McGonagall. Then I, er, _accidentally_, mentioned it in the Slytherin common room last night."

There was scattered jeers and applause from some of the Slytherin students. I reached for my wand, anger rushing through my veins. But before I could raise my wand, a calm voice from behind me asked,

"Is there a problem here?"

I spun around, my insides frozen. It was Professor Lupin, and he was looking questioningly at myself and Malfoy.

"Er, no, Professor," I said blankly, my face burning.

With that, I turned my back to him briskly, and walked off to the Great Hall, before he could call me back. I could hear students laughing, but it was Malfoy's snigger that frustrated me most. Even seeing the amazing decorations in the Great Hall did not calm me down.

"That little snot," I said angrily, after seating myself at the Gryffindor table, "He's such an idiot – can you believe it, Aud? He caused all this!"

"I know," she replied, angry on my behalf, "Malfoy's such a prat. Eavesdropping like that. But you know what he's like that – just look at what he's doing to Hagrid and his Hippogriff!"

I nodded vigorously, "I'm going to talk to McGonagall, schedule him in to the worst detention slot ever. Something with Filch – the man has no mercy."

"Or Hagrid can take him; he'll give him something horrible for sure, so he can get revenge for Buckbeak too!"

"Good idea," I said, laughing maliciously at an image of Malfoy doing detention in the Forbidden Forest.

"Anyway," I said, lowering my voice, "Do you think Lupin knows that it's spread across the school?"

Audrey looked over at the teachers table, looking thoughtful, "I assume so, I don't see how he wouldn't."

"But he seemed pretty calm when he spoke to me just then, I mean, I could've died from embarrassment being seen talking to him in front of all those students, but he acted like it was nothing out the ordinary."

"You know how Lupin is, he's a calm person, I can't say I've ever seen him let his emotions affect his behaviour – except yesterday, when he didn't want to kiss you, obviously."

I nodded in agreement, "You're right, but it's a good thing, isn't it? I mean, it would be a hundred times more embarrassing if he was embarrassed too. If he acts normal, I should be able to, you know, just act like nothing happened."

"Yeh," said Audrey, then she smiled slyly, "But you still could've fried an egg on your face when you realised he was there."

"Audrey!" I cried, punching her playfully.

Feeling a little better than I did earlier, I allowed myself to enjoy the feast, and the entertainment provided by the ghosts was interesting enough to distract other students from whispering about me.

It was only when Audrey and I were leaving the Great Hall that I remembered Malfoy again; I spotted him a few metres away taunting yet another student.

"The Dementors send their love, Potter!"

My eyes flicked towards Harry, who managed rather admirably to ignore him, though his friend, Ron Weasley looked like he wanted nothing more than to hex him.

My mind was so full with frustrated thoughts, that when we reached the Gryffindor Tower, it wasn't until Audrey gasped and grabbed my arm that I notice that something was terribly wrong.

"What?" I asked, quickly following Audrey gaze, and then gasping rather loudly myself.

The portrait of the Fat Lady (who was herself missing) was completely ruined – it looked like someone had slashed it ruthlessly with a knife.

"That's appalling!" I muttered, turning to look back at Audrey. But something else caught my attention; Professor Lupin was standing only two meters away. I gasped again, and quickly moved to stand behind Audrey. Lupin looked very distressed; his face was slightly paler than usual. He was looking up at something, and when I followed his gaze, I realised that Peeves was talking to Professor Dumbledore.

"…Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

For third time that evening, I gasped, as did most of the students. Audrey and I exchanged anxious glances. Sirius Black, in _here_? In the castle?

I quickly looked over at the Professors, Professor Lupin looked even paler than he had before, and Professor Dumbledore was calling for silence, and ordered us off to the Great Hall.

We moved off immediately, everyone talking fervently – some students looked worried, others down right scared.

"How could he have gotten in the castle?" Audrey asked, "When they've sealed the entrances, and put dementors everywhere?"

"I don't know," I replied, biting my lip, "Lucky everyone was at the feast. And why on _earth_ was he headed for Gryffindor tower?"

"I don't know…" she replied, looking just as confused as I did.

In the Great Hall, Audrey and I split up. She joined the other girls from our dorm while I joined the other prefects, standing guard at the entrance to the Hall. Dumbledore had called all the students from the other houses, and ordered everyone to sleep in here while the teachers searched the castle.

Every now and then, some teachers would come to check up on the students – at about one am, by which time I was constantly yawning, Professor Lupin appeared.

"Is everything thing okay here?" he asked a Ravenclaw prefect closest to him.

"Fine, the whispering stopped about an hour ago, most of them are sleeping. Have they found Black?"

Professor Lupin sighed lightly, "No, no sign of him. He seems to have slipped away."

I couldn't help but notice that Lupin did not seem altogether upset at the fact that Black had escaped. But that's nonsense, I thought to myself as I watched Professor Lupin leave, nonsense, I'm just too tired, I must have imagined it…


	9. Sirius Black

As far as I am concerned, Sirius Black could not have chosen a better time to break in to Hogwarts. With all the fuss, most students had forgotten about me and Professor Lupin, and spent most of their free time talking about Black. The girls in my dormitory, however, were not so easily distracted, but they were friendly about it, and when I explained the whole story to them, most of them agreed that Lupin was indeed the only real option. A few other girls approached me too; I was surprised to know just how many students have secret crushes on Professor Lupin. One of them was so jealous she even hexed me in the corridor and ran away before I could see who she was. Audrey was equally mystified, and suggested that after the horror of being taught my Lockhart, Professor Lupin must look like an angel sent from Heaven. I never understood why it was so hard for her to admit that it is probably just because Lupin is so damn handsome.

Even better was the fact that Professor Lupin was absent from out first class after the weekend; though I was sorry that he was ill again, it was a huge relief that my first major encounter with him was to be delayed.

But naturally, as all good things go, it did not last long, and a few days later, Audrey was practically dragging me to our DADA class.

"Fay," she said, pushing me forward, "Stop over-reacting, it's _not_ that bad."

"Easy for you to say," I replied, but gave in anyway and followed her to class. I had been sorely tempted to call in sick myself, but Audrey refused to let me, saying that I would fall behind and that I can not afford to do so in seventh year.

Professor Lupin was already there when we arrived, but I was determined not to make eye contact with him. I took my seat next to Audrey, and for the whole class I starred intently at either my parchment or the blackboard, and only glanced at Professor Lupin when I knew he was talking to another student. I could feel the eyes of some of the Ravenclaw students burning into the back of my head, could hear some of their sniggers, and one of the more obnoxious Ravenclaw boys, Blyth Moore, even sent me a note, saying, "How come you won't look at Lupin? Worried that he thinks you're a bad kisser?"

Furiously, I sent the note back, after writing "Shut up" on it (Yes, I know, my wit amazes me too sometimes), but, to my horror, Professor Lupin saw the note being passed along, intercepted it, and _read it_. My cheeks burned as I watched him read, he frowned, his eyes flickered towards me, then turned to Moore and said,

"10 points from Ravenclaw, and if I see anything like this again, it will be detention. I won't tolerate bullying in my class, Mr Moore."

Still blushing, I looked away, but continued to watch him from the corner of my eye. He had been very distressed when he had been forced to kiss me, but now he was not even blushing. I was very impressed.

To my relief the bell rang shortly after, and the only thing that prevented me from running out of the room was Audrey, who was, remarkably, taking her time.

"Hurry up," I hissed, "It won't kill you if your bag isn't arranged in alphabetical order –"

Audrey rolled her eyes and hurried up, but we were still the last students to leave. As we reached the door, I could have sworn that Professor Lupin looked like he was about to say something to me, but I averted my gaze and hurried out of the room before he had the chance.

The month of November could not have passed more slowly. We were getting more homework than ever, and my performance in DADA was at an all time low, due mainly to that fact that, many weeks later, I was still avoiding Professor Lupin and not speaking to him at all unless he spoke to me first. Though, as Audrey pointed out, I've stopped blushing when ever he asks me a question in class.

And so, all in all, I could not have been happier to see the winter holidays arrive. My family and I were spending the holiday with my Uncle Graham at his country estate. Uncle Graham is the only wizard in the family, and he is always fun to visit.

"There's my favourite, niece!" he cried out, giving me a hug when we arrived at his house. I rolled my eyes at being address as though I was still five, but I was too happy to see him again to care.

"How've you been, Uncle Graham?" I asked excitedly.

"Good, and better now that you and your folks will be here for two weeks," he said, smiling, "You've changed a lot."

I laughed, and replied, "You haven't change at all!"

It was true – my uncle looked the same as he always did; his dark brown hair was as messy as ever, and his bright green eyes sparkled mischievously. I always loved my uncle's eyes; my dad's side of the family all have brown-green eyes, but Uncle Graham was the only one whose eyes were totally green.

I greeted his wife and two young children, a six year old girl and ten year old boy, then turned to my parents.

"Mum, dad, here, give me your things, I'll magic them up to our rooms," I offered. My parents, being muggles, were pleased to take up the offer rather than carry them up to their large suitcases up to rooms themselves.

A few minutes later, I returned to the lounge room and found that my uncle was there alone. I looked around for my parents and my uncle's wife and her kids, and saw that they were outside in the back yard; I could see them through the window.

"Fay," my uncle said, watching my curiously, "You're parents just told me that Black broke in to Hogwarts."

I nodded in confirmation, sitting down next to him and told him the whole story.

My uncle shook his head grimly when I finished talking, "Can't believe it," he said, "Just can't believe it, never been as shocked as I was when I read that he'd escaped from Azkaban, except maybe when I heard that he'd been taken in."

"It's meant to be impossible, isn't it?" I asked curiously. My uncle is an ex-Auror, if anyone knows about Azkaban, it's him.

"Meant to be," he mumbled, "Mind you, I'm not so sad he escaped."

I started at uncle in shock, "But he killed thirteen people!"

My uncle grimaced, and shook his head, "I knew Black, we were in Hogwarts together, I was a few years older than him though. Great bloke he was, dead loyal to his friends. Never would have found a person more against the Dart Arts than him."

"You _knew_ Sirius Black?" I asked, awed.

"Yep, good friends, we were," he said sadly.

"But," I started, frowning, "You can't let your friendship get in the way of justice! Great man or not, he killed thirteen people with a _single_ curse."

"Or so they say," my uncle retorted. I started at him again, and he laughed at my shocked expression, "Look, I knew Black, and there was no way, ever, that he would have joined You-Know-Who. He _hated_ the Dark Arts. I was an auror at the time when he was arrested; Black didn't even get a trial. He was thrown straight into Azkaban."

"No trial?" I asked, frowning. "That's odd. Why?"

"Hard times, the ministry was too busy fighting You-Know-Who, and rounding up the last of the death eaters at the time, no time to give everyone a trial."

"Right," I said, slowly digesting this new piece of information, "Right, so let's say he might have been a good guy for a while, a street full of muggles still saw him kill those people."

"Muggles are rarely reliable witnesses for magic duels, they don't see what they think they do," he said, "And anyway, that isn't the only reason he was locked up. Most people don't know it, but he was the Potters secret keeper. Theory was that the only way You-Know-Who could find the Potters was if Black told them exactly where they were."

"Black _told_ him? It was Black's fault they died?" I asked, astounded. There was clearly more to Black than I had known.

"Yep," he replied.

"But then how can you defend him now? He betrayed them. _Why_ did they make him secret keeper in the first place?"

"Black and Potter were best friends, ever since they were little ones at Hogwarts," my uncle replied sadly, "Potter made Black his secret keeper – they knew that You-Know-Who was after them, see."

"Black was his best friend?" I repeated, aghast, "and he _betrayed_ them? Poor Harry! I wonder if he knows? It must be horrible for him!"

"Hold your horses, who ever said he betrayed them?" he replied frowning, his green eyes burning with passion. He leaned forward slightly in his chair, his hands on his knees, and said, "Where's the proof that he betrayed them, he could have been tortured into speaking for all we know! Black never admitted to it, he never even had the chance to talk."

"But he still killed all those people, bit of a give away, isn't it?"

"Again, there as no trial, things aren't always what they appear. Official version of events was that Black blasted Pettigrew- the wizard, he was another friend of both Black and Potter – and all the other muggles. I don't buy it," he added passionately, "Circumstances were suspicious. Did you hear that they only ever found Pettigrew's finger? Nothing more? A finger, I tell you, how on earth could that have been all that was left of Pettigrew when none of the muggles were maimed that badly? And what was so special about that finger that is survived without even a scratch on it, but the rest of his body vanished without a trace? Something isn't right, things aren't what they seem."

I starred at my uncle, slowly taking in the information he had just loaded me with. Black, _innocent_? He certainly seemed to think so, and he was an auror at the time, so opinion definitely counts.

"So, you think he's innocent?" I asked slowly.

"Black loved Potter like a brother," his eyes now oddly bright, "They were inseparable. You couldn't find better friends anywhere. The number of times he said to me, he said, 'Graham, I would die for those three,' referring to his three best friends, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin."

I gasped, "Remus Lupin?"

My uncle looked at me curiously, "Why? You don't know a Remus Lupin, do you?"

"Yeh!" I exclaimed, "He teaches Defence at Hogwarts, he just started this year!"

"Must be him, not a very common name is it?" my uncle suggested, "What does he look like?"

"Tall, light brown hair and eyes, looks like he can't be more than thirty something."

"Middle name starts with J?"

"Yeh," I replied, "Wow, so you're telling me that Professor Lupin was friends with _Sirius Black_?"

"Assuming it's the same person, hold on, I've a picture of them somewhere."

He waved his wand over his shoulder, and a small picture came rushing into the room and fell into his lap. I leaned over to look at the picture. There were six students in Gryffindor robes, all standing and waving merrily at the camera; two girls and four boys. One of the girls had green eyes and red hair, she was standing hand in hand with a boy with very messy black hair who looked like an older version of Harry Potter. They could only be his parents. Next to them were two boys who I did not recognise; one very haughty-looking and handsome, the other short and chubby. Then there was a gorgeous girl, her arm around the waist of a very good looking boy with light brown hair and eyes. Eyes that I knew very well…

"Remus Lupin," my uncle said, pointing at him, "I haven't seen him in years, I only ever saw him a few times outside of Hogwarts, mainly when I was meeting up with Black."

He pointed at the handsome boy with black hair.

"That's Black?" I asked, amazed, "He looks so different!"

"I guess Azkaban does that to a person."

"And that there is Pettigrew," he said, smiling grimly, "That girl was Lily Evans, James Potters wife. Dead obviously, the three of them, and now Black is on the run… Lupin's at Hogwarts according to you… and last I knew of that pretty girl there, Rose Wilson, was that she went back to Australia after You-Know-Who vanished."

Rose Wilson, the name sounded familiar. I thought for a moment and then I remembered, "She was Lupin girlfriend, wasn't she?" I asked.

"Yep, they were together from their fifth year until a few months before You-Know-Who died. Must have been what, six years together?"

"Six years?" I asked, letting out a low whistle, "That's practically married! Why did they break up?"

"Not so sure, Black told me something about Lupin being too poor – he could never keep a job for long, never knew why – and he wasn't willing to have kids for some reason. And Lupin was in danger, of course, since he was fighting You-Know-Who with Dumbledore, he was a target, and so was anyone he loved."

"So she dumped him because of that?" I asked, feeling slightly angry in Lupin's defense.

"No, no, Lupin dumped _her_ because of it," he replied, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "She didn't mind that he was poor or couldn't have kids, or that he was in danger. She was crazy about him. Broke her heart in two when it happened. Lupin loved her back, of course, I could see it in his eyes. He was depressed for a long time after he broke it off, but Black insisted that it was something that Lupin thought had to be done. I felt sorry for them both – first they lost each other, then a few months later, Lily and Potter died – Rose and Lily were best friends, and next day Pettigrew is dead too and Black is in Azkaban. Lupin lost his three best friends all in twenty-four hours. Those four, they were like brothers."

A shiver ran down my spine, and I hastily blinked back the tears that were forming in my eyes. Poor Lupin… he had suffered so much, all because of You-Know-Who. And now Black is at Hogwarts, where Lupin is. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Lupin must feel – his former best friend, murderer, responsible for the deaths of his other two best friends. And yet, my uncle, who I respect so much, former auror, reckons that Black was innocent. I was confused; I didn't know what to believe. I shook my head gently, watching the smiling image of my teenaged DADA Professor; he looked so happy, so carefree, so _young_, with no idea what the future was holding for him.

"Uncle Graham?" Looking up, I saw that he looked as depressed as I felt, "Can I keep this photo?" I asked earnestly.

"It's all yours," he said smiling warmly, "it's just a copy; I've got the real one upstairs. It's signed at the back; by the way, Black sent it to me back when he was in his seventh year."

I turned the photo over. There was a long message at the back, scribbled, almost hurriedly, in black ink.

_Graham,__ can't wait to see you over the winter break. __Heres a pic of me with the boys.__ James finally got Evans to go out with him, will you believe it? He hasn't stopped smiling all week. I've already got him convinced to name me God-father of his kids. __Remus__ and Rose are getting along great too, they are so hopelessly in love, I'm always teasing __Remus__ about, pretending they annoy me, just to see his reaction. It's priceless. But I don't mind, really, as long as __Remus__ is happy, then I'm happy. They boys say hi by the way, and congratulations on becoming an uncle. Have they named the child yet? __Remus__ suggests the name __Faylinn__. Oh, and we finally pulled off your prank! Don't know why we never tried it before! You should have seen McGonagall's face when all that turned up for dinner was strawberry jelly, it was priceless. We all got detention for a week, but it was worth it. Anyway, I'd better stop now before McGonagall realises that I'm not doing my transfiguration work. _

_See you soon, __Sirius Black._


	10. Behind the Curtain

"Wow," said Audrey, looking awestruck. It was the first weekend of the new term, and I had finally found the time to tell Audrey about my uncle's thoughts on Sirius Black, though leaving out any mention of Professor Lupin. I was not sure I wanted to talk about that, or that he would appreciate me spreading news about his previous suffering and connection with Black amongst the students.

"I know," I replied, looking around the common room to make sure no one was listening. I noticed Harry enter the room along with the rest of the Quidditch team, and wondered vaguely if he knew just how connected to Sirius Black he was.

"Listen –" I said, turning back to Audrey, "Do me a favour, don't go spreading around what I've just told you. I don't know how much Harry Potter knows, I'd hate for him to find out about Black from rumours circulating around the school."

"Of course," she replied, nodding, "Do you reckon he already knows? We could ask Hermione Granger, she'd be smart enough not to tell him we asked anything."

I frowned slightly, looking over at Hermione. She was surrounded by books, and looked positively exhausted.

"That girl studies too much. And she's only in third year!" I said, shaking my head exasperatedly, "Anyway, have you noticed she hasn't been anywhere near Potter and Weasley lately? I think they've had a fight… probably best not to ask her."

"Really?" asked Audrey, looking surprised, "No, I hadn't noticed. Well, if that's the case, yeh, I guess we shouldn't…"

Audrey's voice trailed off; her eyes were fixed on something right behind me. I turned around, and saw Oliver standing there grinning goofily, still in his Quidditch robes.

"Er, hello, Oliver," I said, raising an eyebrow. He rarely ever approached Audrey or me.

"Hi," he replied, and then he looked straight at Audrey, who blushed slightly, "Umm, Audrey, could I possibly have a word with you? Outside the common room?"

"Sure," she said, looking slightly taken back, thought pleased.

She smiled at me nervously and followed Oliver out of the room. While I waited for her to return, I took out the picture of Professor Lupin and his friends and looked at it. I had not shown it to Audrey, and I was not planning to, but part of me really wanted to ask Professor Lupin about it, and to tell him about my uncle's opinion. He seems to hold Black guilty; in our first class back after the break, one of the students had asked him about how Black could have entered the castle. He seemed slightly flustered by the question, and knowing what I did about his past, I knew it must be because Black was once his best friend.

Of course, and my heart fluttered slightly as I thought about it, I wanted to ask him whether he realised he was the one who named me. It was such a surprise for me when I read that line. I had always loved my name; I loved the way it sounds, and the fact that it was suggested to my parents by my favourite uncle, but now that I know it was suggested by my favourite teacher and the subject of a long-lasting crush, I love the name even more.

And then there was the issue of Rose Wilson, his beautiful girlfriend. It made me sad knowing they had both been so saddened by the break up, and the curiosity as to why he had broken up with her was eating me up in side. But seeing as how I had hardly spoken a word to Professor Lupin since the boggart incident, unless you count those awkward moment in class when he would ask me a question (and even though Audrey said I had stopped blushing, doesn't mean I'm not still embarrassed), I could hardly ask him such personal questions, especially not ones that might upset him.

Hearing the Portrait open, I looked up from the photo to see Audrey hurrying towards me, looking positively ecstatic. I hurriedly put the picture away.

"What did he want?" I asked eagerly as she sat down besides me.

"He's asked me on a date!" she squeaked excitedly. "Next Hogsmeade weekend!"

"Congratulations!" I replied enthusiastically, all thoughts of Professor Lupin pushed to the back of my mind, "I don't believe, this is so out of no where! Fill me in! What did he say?"

"That he's liked me for a while now, but he wasn't sure how I felt, but he realised that he had to say something soon, since the year was coming to a close and he won't have much chance after that!"

"Wow," I said, "Impressive, he's very good at hiding it, isn't he? I mean, I would never have guessed…"

"I know!" she replied, beaming, "He is really busy though, you know, with Quidditch practise - he's training five evenings a week – he said, so he won't be able to spend much time with me before the cup was over, but that he would be free on the Hogsmeade weekend and that he'd be flattered if I would go with him!"

"That's like, what? Two weeks from now, right?" I asked.

"Yeh, I can't wait!" she said excitedly, but then her expression became more serious and she said, "Come on, we really need to finish this essay!"

I smirked, rolling my eyes. If I had just been asked out by someone I've liked for ages, I would have given myself a break from homework… but no, not Audrey.

- - -

The following Saturday, Oliver some how managed to become Audrey's 'study-partner' for the day, so I was quite alone as I made my way from the common room to dinner. It was just as I was day dreaming of hexing Snape for setting us a killer assignment that I heard muffled footsteps behind me. I turned around, and as I did, I heard someone I could not see shout something, and immediately felt something warm brush across my forehead. I gasped, clasping my hand to my forehead. Then there was the sound of more footsteps, this time mixed with giggling, and then silence.

Muttering furiously under my breath, I conjured a mirror to see what damage was done.

"Argh!" I cried out furiously. The words "I love Lupin" were tattooed across my forehead in bright, glittering pink ink,

"Merlins beard! Stupid thugs!"

After trying several times to remove it and failing, I stormed up noisily to the Hospital wing, though making sure that my fringe was covering the worst of the damage.

The hospital wing was empty when I arrive, except for one bed, which had the curtains drawn around it.

"Madam Pomfrey?" I called out, looking towards her office.

She quickly came out from her office.

"Good evening, Faylinn," she said, when she saw me, then she frowned slightly and asked, "What's that you have on your forehead?"

"That's why I'm here," I said resentfully, "Some fool thought it would be funny to plaster this message on my head. Somehow, I'm not laughing."

Madam Pomfrey indicated for me to sit on the bed, and then she approached me and pulled back my fringe. When she saw what was written, she laughed.

"It's not funny!" I said, my face feeling distinctly hot.

"No, of course it isn't dear," she said as she examined the writing, though she looked amused.

"You know it's your fault, Madam Pomfrey, don't you?" I muttered, careful to keep any accusation out of my voice, "How could you have let Malfoy hear you telling Professor McGonagall? Malfoy, of all people!"

"I'm sorry dear – and do try not to move too much please." she muttered, not taking her eyes off my forehead. She conjured a large jar from the shelf behind her and then asked, "I assume he was punished?"

"Oh, yes," I replied smugly, pausing to enjoy the memory, "Yes, I got him just before the Halloween feast. He was trying to embarrass me in front of a large crowd, so I gave him detention, and I convinced Hagrid to take him up too. He made him spend _four_ hours bathing those horrible Blast-ended Skwerts. Hagrid tells me he had quite a few burns and cuts before he was allowed to leave."

"Ah, yes, I remember seeing him here just before the break," replied Madam Pomfrey, now dabbing a thick purple liquid across my forehead.

"And Professor McGonagall gave him detention too; she told me Professor Lupin took him up for it. I, er, never found out what he had him do, though. Probably nothing too horrible though, he's too nice for that, I think."

"You didn't ask?"

"I did, but Professor McGonagall didn't know…" I said.

"I meant Professor Lupin," she said.

"I, er, well, you see, um, I didn't want to, um, bother him…" I muttered very unconvincingly.

"You're not shy to talk to him, are you?"

"No!" I said defensively, though truthfully I knew that she was spot on the mark.

"He told me you've been avoiding him."

"What do you _expect_ me to do? The whole school, more or less, knows what happened. He probably hates me because of it," I muttered sadly. The thought had been haunting me, though admittedly less so lately.

"Nonsense, he doesn't hate you," she said, "He really values you as a student, actually."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, but he's worried that he has ruined your relationship, he seems to think that _you_ blame _him_, or that you are angry with him."

"Of course I don't!" I replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "He's a great teacher – my favourite actually. It's just a shame that this had to come between us."

There was a moment's silence, in which I mentally weighted the delight of having kissed him with the torment I had received, and was still receiving from the school. Part of me, the honest part, knows that I enjoyed the kiss too much to regret that it happened.

"Do you know who did this to you, then?" she asked as she dried off the purple liquid and started applying a clear, shimmering gel.

"Ouch, that burns, miss!" I said, grimacing.

"Nonsense!" she replied bossily.

"Anyway," I said, adapting to the pain, "I didn't see who it was, but it isn't the first time. Someone hexed me a few days after the news spread too… I think it must be one of his little _fans_." I added, scowling slightly.

"Stop frowning, Faylinn," she reprimanded me again, "And what do you mean by fans?"

"Fans!" I said, empathetically, "Other than all the teasing, I've been bombarded by all these girls who were really jealous and have crushes on Professor Lupin."

"_Really_?" she replied, looking surprised, finally looking me in the eye, "You mean to say that students are crushing on Professor Lupin?"

"Yes," I replied, conveniently leaving out that fact that I was one of them.

"And what did they ask?"

"If it was true. Some of them looked pretty sour, too. Some even ask for details, whether he was a good kisser and stuff."

Madam Pomfrey chuckled lightly, "And what did you say?"

I smiled cheekily, "At first I just pretended I wasn't able to pay attention because of the poison, but then they started to get annoying so I told them I wasn't the type to kiss and tell."

"Oh, and why didn't you just answer them directly?"

"What?" I asked incredulously, "If I told them he was a great kisser, then I'd be teased even more, and if I told them he was horrible, well, I don't think he would have _liked_ that – I mean, who would? - especially since it isn't true."

"Not true, you say?" she asked, "No, I didn't think so, you did seem to enjoy that kiss."

"Sorry?" I asked suspiciously, "How do you know that I enjoyed it? I thought you weren't watching?"

"Of course I was, dear,"

I stared at her in disbelief. She _watched_? Oblivious to my reaction, she simply started drying my forehead with her wand.

"But Professor Lupin told you not to watch!"

"That looks like it's all fixed," she muttered about my forehead, then said, "I had to watch, I'm the matron here."

She conjured a mirror so that I could check my reflection. Other than the fact that I was blushing slightly and frowning, my face was back to normal.

"Besides, back when he was a student here, he didn't seem to mind so much. The number of times I caught him kissing in here when he was meant to be resting –"

"That's quite enough, I think, Poppy," said a hoarse voice from behind the curtained-off bed besides me.

I gasped, dropping the mirror from shock. I _know_ that voice… Oh no, no, this can't be… please don't tell me Professor Lupin just heard me talking about his fan club and Madam Pomfrey saying I enjoyed the kiss…

"Remus?" asked Madam Pomfrey, sticking her head between the openings of the curtains, "I thought I told you get some sleep?" she asked sternly.

"I woke up when Faylinn called for you," he replied.

"Have you been listening?" she asked.

"I tried not to… but then I heard my name come up," he said, almost apologetically.

Oh, bloody hell, I thought, my face burning red, my heart racing. How much did he hear?

"Did you hear about your little fan club?"

"Ah, yes. That was rather, er, _unusual_," he replied, sounding embarrassed.

"Did you know about it?"

"No, actually, I had no idea. I never thought my students would ever see me, er, _that_ way."

"You've always under-estimated yourself, Remus. You're as handsome now as you ever were, and you have a wonderful personality –"

"Poppy, _please_," he said, sounding even more embarrassed.

"Alright, alright, now, I want you to get back to sleep, okay? You need rest," she said seriously.

Madam Pomfrey pulled her head back out of the curtains and turned to look at me. She blinked a few times and then said (rather loudly, I might add), "What are you blushing about, girl?"

I glared at her and whispered furiously, "Not so loud! And why didn't you tell me he was here? You just let me embarrass myself –"

"Nonsense, you haven't –" she started loudly.

"Shhh! He can hear you!" I whispered, and then added in an audible voice, "Anyway, thanks for your help Madam Pomfrey, but I need to go to dinner."

"You're welcome, and do try to stay out of trouble, won't you?"

Trouble, I thought bitterly as I left hospital wing, between her, boggarts and Draco Malfoy it's all I seem to be having this year.

* * *

**Author****'****s note – I just wanted to point out, in case my readers get the wrong impression, that this ****fic**** will not involve any **_**actual, **_**full on ****student-teacher relationship, where they start dating and stuff! I just can't possibly put Lupin in a position where he does something so recklessly immoral and illegal! But I hope you can enjoy the story anyway. :D**


	11. The Knife

"Audrey, is there such a thing as a humiliation charm?" I asked.

Audrey looked up at me. She was seated in an armchair near the fire, reading a text book. I slumped down in to the chair besides her.

"Umm," she said, looking thoughtful, "No, I don't think so… Why?"

"Because for some reason I keep embarrassing myself in front of Professor Lupin!" I cried, and then explained to her all about what happened in the hospital wing earlier that evening.

After I finished Audrey looked sympathetic.

"That's pretty embarrassing… but you didn't say anything _too_ bad, did you?" she asked.

"Other than that I'm too shy to talk to him, or about his little fan club, or saying he was not a horrible kisser, or not denying it when Madam Pomfrey said I enjoyed the kiss?" I asked with mock indifference, "No, nothing bad at all. And to think I was finally starting to get used to him and not get embarrassed in front of him! Now I'll be too embarrassed to even look at him!"

"Aw, Fay, it's not that bad," replied Audrey, "Look, at least now he knows why you have been avoiding him and that you don't blame him or anything. He might be able to make a bigger effort to make you comfortable."

"Yeh, I guess, but it will still be embarrassing…"

"I wonder what he makes of his little fan club, though?" Audrey asked, grinning mischievously, "So you say he didn't see it coming? He will probably be paranoid now about all his female students, trying to see who's normal and who's day dreaming about snogging him."

I laughed at that – Audrey always knew how to make me laugh when I am down.

"Yeh, as long as he doesn't start getting suspicious about _me_…" I said.

"Nah, I don't think so, you heard Madam Pomfrey, all this time he's been thinking that you didn't like him…"

"Yeh, I guess…" I replied.

"And you _don't_ day dream about snogging him, do you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Er…" I replied. The truth was, yes, of course, but Audrey was not ready to hear that (she still thinks it is gross) so instead I asked, "How was your study session with Oliver, anyway?"

She snorted at my obvious attempt to change the subject, but then smiled excitedly and said,

"Oh, it was really good! He a lot smarter than I realised, you know, very studious too when he isn't thinking too hard about Quidditch."

"So you got some work done?" I asked. Personally, I had expected them to spend the whole time chatting.

"Yes, well, it was a bit distracting at first, having him there, I mean, but I got used to it, and we really did get a lot done," she replied happily, "He was a bit anxious though, you know, tomorrow is he next match, and they don't win this one, they are out of the running."

"So, are you two officially together?" I asked curiously. I had been wondering about it for a while.

"Yes!" she replied enthusiastically, "He asked today, I said yes, if that's what he wants, and he said he wanted it, so yeh, we are together!"

"Wow, Audrey, that's awesome!" I said. I sighed, reclining back in my chair and added, "At least one of us had a decent day today…"

- - -

For a change, the following day, the Gryffindor common room was almost empty, except for a few fifth and seventh years, which unfortunately happened to include me. The rest of the school was out side watching the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match; the talk of the moment being Potter's new Firebolt.

A Firebolt, I thought grudgingly, the rest of the school gets to watch a real _Firebolt_ in action, and here I am stuck doing Flitwick's essay. Even Audrey had taken the time off to watch the match, though it had less to do with the Firebolt and more to do with a certain Quidditch captain. But since she has not stopped talking about Oliver since he asked her out, I was not complaining too much.

Around mid-day, the students started flooding the common room; shouting and cheering enthusiastically. There was no need to ask who had won. I stood up to congratulate Oliver and quickly left the common room for the library; there was no way I could study in there now that a fully-fledged party had erupted, and if I did not leave before it became too rowdy, I probably would have been tempted not to leave at all.

Later that evening, when I couldn't possibly continue with studying, I returned to the common room, and was surprised to see that the party was still in action. Really, I thought, grinning, you'd think that Gryffindor had already won the cup.

The Weasley twins ambushed me as soon as I entered the room, and dragged me off to a table covered in junk food.

"Congratulations, you two," I said grinning.

"Why, thank you," said Fred, bowing formally.

"An honour," added George, "Fancy a butterbeer?"

"It's on the house," said Fred, winking.

"Thanks," I said, taking the drink. We discussed the game for a while, and the twins did a hilarious imitation of Malfoy and his friends after they had been hit Potters partonus.

"Potter can produce a patronus?" I asked surprised, "That is pretty impressive! We only learned that this year."

"Yeh," said George, "Professor Lupin has been giving him extra lessons to teach him, you know, in case the dementors come, so he doesn't fall off his broom again."

"Bet you wouldn't mind that, ay, Fay?" Fred asked.

"What?" I asked confused, "I can already produce a patronus."

"That's not what I meant," said Fred, smiling mischievously, "I was referring to extra one-on-one lessons with Professor Lupin."

"Fred!" I gasped, feeling myself blush, "Not you too."

The twins laughed merrily, and I pretend to glare angrily at them. Then George said, "We were only kidding. We know it was only a, you know, emergency thing."

I rolled my eyes, but laughed anyway. I could never be angry with the twins. They were just too funny.

"Have you seen Audrey anywhere?" I asked them.

"She disappeared with Wood a while ago," said George, his eyes twinkling.

With Audrey out of sight, I spent the rest of the evening with the twins, until Professor McGonagall finally came over to the common room and insisted that we all go to sleep. When I arrived at my dorm, I realised that Audrey was already in bed. I was curious to know what she had gotten up to, but I knew I should not wake her up, so I simply went to sleep, thinking that I would just ask her in the morning.

However, before morning arrived, loud voices in the common room woke up everyone in our dorm. I could hear footsteps outside my door too; girls were leaving their dorms.

"Do you reckon they're continuing with the party?" asked Audrey, poking her head out from behind her curtains, her light brown hair extremely dishevelled.

"Possibly," I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, "I'm prefect, I have to go see."

As I was putting on a robe and running my fingers through my hair to tidy it up a little, I heard a loud shout coming from down stairs.

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

I froze, felt the blood draining from my face, my heart beating frantically, and then, as one, we all ran out to the common room, which was full of students. We arrived just in time to hear Professor McGonagall address Ron Weasley,

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have got through the portrait hole?"

Instinctively, my eyes darted to the portrait hole, which stood open.

"Ask him! Ask him if he saw –" replied Ron frantically.

I held my breath as I watched Professor McGonagall walk over to the painting of Sir Cadogan. Sirius Black? In here? With a _knife_?

"Sir, Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" she asked him apprehensively.

"Certainly, good lady!" he replied.

Audrey and I exchanged a worried look.

"You – you did?" asked Professor McGonagall, sounding astonished, "But – but the password!"

"He had 'em! Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Professor McGonagall entered the common room, shaking with fury.

"Which person," she said, in a voice that made me sincerely thankful that I was not on the receiving end, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

There was a moments silence during which students exchanged fearful glances, and then, a third year boy I knew as Neville Longbottom let out a horrified squeak, and raised his hand.

"Detention, Longbottom. You have absolutely disgraced Gryffindor house. You are from now on banned from anymore Hogsmeade visits, and," she added furiously, then added, while looking around accusingly at the rest of the students, "No one shall be allowed to give him the common room password."

Neville hung his head in shame, his cheeks bright red. For a moment I put my fear aside, and instead felt anger directed at Professor McGonagall; this was _not_ Neville's fault. She should not have punished him like this.

"No one is to leave Gryffindor Tower. The Head Boy," she said, nodding at Percy, "and prefects are to make sure that everything is in order here. You may stay up in the common room in wait for information."

With that, she turned swiftly on her heel and left the common room, which exploded instantly in excited muttering.


	12. In the Staff Room

"Miss Goodwill, wake up, Miss Goodwill!"

The squeaky voice startled me out of my sleep. I opened my eyes sleepily, and then –

"Argh!" I cried. Someone – some_thing_ – with very large eyes was breathing into my face. It moved away from the creature, and in the dim light, I realised it was only a house elf. I breathed a sigh of relief while it starred back at me with wide and worried eyes.

"Twinky is sorry!" the house elf squeaked, "Twinky only wishes to wake up Miss Goodwill, she is being called by Head Boy! Head boy is wanting her and other prefects to be in the common room in fifteen minutes."

This early in the morning? I thought. I looked out of the window; it was still a little dark outside.

"Are you sure, Twinky?" I asked her kindly, hoping to put her at ease.

""Twinky is sure, Miss Goodwill!" she replied happily, "Twinky must go now and wake other prefects. Good bye, Miss Goodwill!"

The house elf toppled out of the room. I watched her leave, bemused that anyone could be so active this early in the morning. Yawning loudly, I got out of bed, a quick shower and went to meet Percy in the common room. Trust Percy to wake us up this early! Talk about slave-labour.

Most of the prefects were already in the common when I arrived, all looking very sleepy, except for Percy who looked strangely awake, his Head Boy badge glistening on his chest.

"What did you wake us up for, Percy?" I muttered, as I slouched down into an armchair, "We stayed up until three thirty last night, couldn't you let us sleep?"

Percy straightened up his back and said proudly, "As prefects you are expected to serve this school at any hour of the day. And anyway, I didn't call this meeting, Professor Dumbledore did. He wants all prefects and Head Boy and Girl to meet him in the staff room for a special meeting."

"Stop being so _proper_, Percy, it's too early in the morning," I said. A few of the prefects (mainly those who were not still half asleep) laughed, and I added, "Anyway, why does Dumbledore want us all for? And at this time of the day?"

"I can only assume it has something to do with Black," Percy replied, just as the last prefect stumbled sleepily into the common room, "Ah, excellent, alright everyone, let's go."

By the time we reached the staff room I was feeling more awake, perhaps it was because of the long walk, or perhaps I was just curious about why Dumbledore would have gathered us all there, especially so early in the morning. Percy opened the door and let us all in. The room was long, with a table stretching along the middle of the room. The prefects of the other houses were already there, standing along the walls, some of them seated. Professor Dumbledore was standing at the far end of the table, wearing magnificent deep purple robes, and a few teachers were also present, Professor Lupin included. He was seated half way along the table, chatting seriously with Professor Flitwick. His lips were slightly stained from the coffee he was drinking; they looked darker, contrasting against his pale skin, though it only made him look more handsome. I remembered the conversation he over-heard two days ago, and looked away from him hastily, hoping that I was not blushing.

"Welcome," said Professor Dumbledore, smiling warmly at us as we stood along the wall next to the Ravenclaw prefects, "Right, that's everyone here. I do apologise for having you all out of bed so early, but this needed to be arranged before classes start, and is the only time that you would all be available."

A few of the students exchanged looks with each other; some expressions suggested they would rather be in bed, others, whose expressions probably reflected my own, seemed curious to hear what Professor Dumbledore had to say. The teachers were watching him curiously too; they seemed to be as uninformed as the rest of us.

"As I am sure you are all aware, last night, Sirius Black managed to breaking to the Gryffindor common room," he paused, looking grim, and then said, "What you may not know is that it is the belief of the ministry that Black had escaped from Azkaban with the intention of murdering Harry Potter."

I gasped, clasping my hand to my mouth, as did a few other students. Black was after _Harry_? Poor Harry, he must be horrified! And he had come so close last night…

"He came very close to achieving his objective last night – if it weren't that Black had chosen the wrong bed, Harry might have been killed."

There was a moment's silence as everyone took in what Professor Dumbledore had just said. I glanced at Professor Lupin; he was starring unseeingly at his coffee cup. He looked worried; I knew it must be hard for him, believing that his once best friend was after his dead best friend's son. And yet, even after last night, I still was not sure. Was Black really guilty? I kept mulling over all the doubts and issues my uncle had raised with me; the more I thought about it, the more confused I became. But there was no denying that, innocent or not, attacking the Fat Lady and standing over a student's bed with a knife were not acceptable act.

"The security in the castle is being tightened as we speak, but we also need the help of our prefects and Head Boy and Girl," continued Professor Dumbledore, nodding curtly towards the students in the room, "We will be increasing the number of hours of patrol after curfew. For the fifth and seventh years amongst you, you will still only be needed to patrol the corridors for one hour a week, I do not wish to over burden you just before your OWLs and NEWTs, however, the sixth years, I will kindly be asking you to do two hours of patrolling a week. Also, for your safety, you will no longer be patrolling the corridors with your fellow house prefect of the same year; instead each prefect will be pair with a teacher to patrol with. The new patrol timetable and pairing," he paused, flicking his wand, "is on the board."

On the blackboard behind him, neat, curly handwriting had appeared, showing the times and pairings for each students. My eyes scanned the list, and I finally found my name. My time slot was Friday nights, from eight to nine o'clock. That's good, I thought, I rarely study on Fridays anyway. I shifted my eyes towards the next list to see which teacher I had been partnered with. I finally found my name, and when I did, I could not believe what I was reading.

Eek! No. _No way_. This is not happening. I hurriedly looked at Professor Dumbledore, who I noticed was watching me, smiling serenely. He nodded towards me, and then said, to the students in general, "The pairings are also final, I'm afraid, and they cannot be changed, unless they clash with extracurricular activities such as Quidditch practise."

He did this on _purpose_! I thought, outraged. But how could he know that my student-teacher relationship Professor Lupin was on the rocks? Or perhaps this is his attempt to force me to talk to my Professor? My eyes flickered towards Professor Lupin, who was still scanning the pairings list. His eyes paused as he found his name, and he looked slightly surprised when he saw that I was his partner. He looked over at Professor Dumbledore, raising an eyebrow. Professor Dumbledore simply smiled, his eyes twinkling. Professor Lupin looked around the room; I knew that he was looking for me. My heart raced, and then finally, he found me, and smiled kindly. I smiled back nervously, hoping beyond hope that he was not thinking of the conversation he had over heard. No, I thought to myself, don't think about that, or do you want to look like you've had your cheeks replaced with tomatoes?

Everyone then stood up to leave, so I followed suit, but my mind was lost in thought. One hour. One whole hour, just me and Professor Lupin. Relax, I told myself, just relax, deep breath, it will be fine, just make sure if you run into a boggart again, it transforms into his worst fear, not yours…


	13. The Patrol

It is one of those annoying facts of life; the more you dread something, the faster time goes, and the next thing you know, you are standing outside Professor Lupins office on a Friday evening, trying to convince your shaking hand to knock on the door.

Even though it had been five days since that fateful morning in the staff room, I was no less nervous about the idea of spending an hour alone with Professor Lupin, nor had I spoken to him at all, even in class. The only communication we had occurred this morning; he sent me an owl asking me to meet him in his office at five to eight so we could start our rounds.

Okay, just chill, Faylinn, I thought to myself, be cool, and an hour from now it will all be over.

Breathing deeply, I knocked on his door. For a moment there was no reply, and just as I considered knocking again, the door opened to reveal a smiling Professor Lupin. Merlin's beard, how I love that smile…

"Good evening," he said pleasantly, "Come in, please, we still have a few minutes before our patrol begins…"

"Okay," I said nervously, entering his office. His pleasant demeanour made me feel more comfortable. Hopefully, the hour would be less excruciating if Professor Lupin keeps his cool (even though I probably won't).

I allowed my eyes to scan his office, and to my relief, the boggart trunk was not there any more. The last thing I needed was a repeat of _that_ incident.

I sat down in the seat across from his desk, which was covered with papers and folders, as well as an empty, though still steaming goblet. It emitted an odd smell, not pleasant at all, something like a cross between raw fish and scrambled egg. Some trace of repulsion must have shown on my face, because Professor Lupin, who had just taken a seat behind his desk laughed, and said,

"Not very pleasant smelling, is it?"

"Oh," I said, slightly taken aback, "It's, er, _unusual_, I guess, but if that's how you like your tea…"

Professor Lupin smiled broadly at this,

"I assure you, I can't stand it. I only take it for medical purposes."

"Oh," I said, blushingly slightly. That should have been obvious; I'm so slow sometimes… well, not sometimes, usually just when I'm alone with Professor Lupin…

"Faylinn, I've wanted to speak with you," Professor Lupin said seriously.

"Really?" I said casually, though my heart was beating frantically against my chest. Did he mean what I thought he did?

"Yes," he said, "I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened with the boggart incident, and for how students have been treating me because of it."

I blushed, but much need relief rushed through my body. Even though Madam Pomfrey had said the same thing, it was more real when he said it himself.

"That – that's good to know," I said, a genuine smile playing at my lips.

"And I hope you can forgive me also for everything that happened –" he added.

"It wasn't your fault professor, you had no choice," I said quickly, "I understand, really."

"Thank you for understanding," he replied, looking as relieved as I felt, "I know you already clarified that on the night that it happened, though I was concerned that perhaps you had changed your mind after the news spread across the school."

"Why you think that, Professor?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you were avoiding me, and were acting less friendly than usual," he said off-handly, "Though clearly I was wrong, forgive me."

"Oh, yeh, that was because I was, you know, worried about how _you_ felt, sir, and I was a bit embarrassed too," I added sheepishly. It was an unusual conversation to be having with a teacher, especially one who you happen to have a crush on, have kissed and have been avoiding for the last few months. But after seven years, you come to accept that unusual happenings at Hogwarts are common place.

"Understandable," he said, nodding slightly, "Though I must say it is a shame that this had to occur – especially in your NEWTs year. I don't think you are doing as well as you would have been if we had maintained a normal relationship. I think perhaps it is best if we start over, what do you say?"

"I think that's a good idea," I agreed.

"Well, I think it is time for introductions then," he said, standing up.

I watched him uncertainly as he stopped next to me. He extended his hand and said,

"Professor R. J. Lupin, it is my pleasure to meet you," he said, smiling cheekily.

I was taken aback at first, and then I laughed, stood up and shook his hand enthusiastically, my heart fluttering slightly at the warmth of his skin.

"Faylinn Goodwill, and the pleasure is all mine, Professor."

Professor lupin beamed, looking positively gorgeous as he did it, and resumed his seat. I was extremely impressed; he was handling the situation so smoothly, so _maturely_, to the extent that I was actually feeling comfortable in his presence. Sure, perhaps he still makes me feel a little nervous when he smiles, and so he can still make my legs feel like jelly just by shaking my hand, but, I thought happily, at least we are on speaking terms again. Suddenly, I was feeling a lot more hopeful about tonight.

"Right, now, to business," he said, looking down at a piece of parchment, "I received this message from Professor Dumbledore this morning; it says we are to patrol the transfiguration and charms corridors on the third and fourth floor, and check all classrooms to see that they are empty, and that we will be required to cast the _homenum__revelio_ charm on every corridor, classroom and passage behind the tapestries. After that we just need to patrol the corridors."

He frowned slightly then looked up at me, "You've only recently learned this spell, do you think you can manage it?"

"Er," I said. Truth be told, I had spent most of the class trying to avoid Professor Lupin, and so did not master the spell as well as Audrey did, but I did manage it a number of times.

Professor Lupin seemed to take my hesitation as a no, and asked, "We still have some time before we need to start – shall we practise?"

"Okay, Professor."

Five minutes later, Professor Lupin had corrected my wand technique for the charm and we were ready to start patrol.

It was dull work, made interesting only by the presence of my partner. Not that we spoke much, we were too preoccupied checking classrooms. I took those on the left hand side, and Professor Lupin took those on the right.

It was almost half past the hour when we reached the last corridor in the transfiguration wing of the fourth floor. We continued our inspection as normal; it did not take long, the corridor was shorter than most, and darker, though I was not one to admit to being scared. There was a beautiful tapestry on the wall at the end of the corridor, showing a magnificent hall in which a very pretty woman dressed in what could have easily been a very fancy though provocative wedding dress, had it not been coloured blood red with silver and gold embroidery, dancing happily with a handsome man clad in black, obvious to the fact that the forty or so wizards that surrounded them were duelling violent.

Shortly after, we finished our inspection, and I breathed a sigh of relief, while Professor Lupin examined the tapestry curiously.

"Finally!" I said, rubbing my wand arm, which was sore from over-use, "I didn't think it would take so long. It would be a shame if I'm not asked to use this spell on the NEWTs exam at the – Professor, what are you doing?"

I starred, stunned as Professor Lupin, apparent no longer content with looking, reached out a hand and started to _stroke _the woman's_ back_. I blushed as I watched him; okay, so she was an extremely pretty witch with a gorgeous body, but surely he did not need to do that in front of _me_?

After a few moments of stroking, the witch in the tapestry stopped dancing and looked up at Professor Lupin, smiled flirtatiously, winked, and then, leaving her dance partner looking thoroughly disappointed, walked out of the hall. Professor Lupin watched her leave, smiling amusedly, and then looked surprised when he turned to look at me, seeing me starring back and forth between him and the tapestry, blushing furiously and looking stunned.

For a moment he looked confused, and then, he must have realised something, because his eyes widened, he blushed and he let out a "Oh!"

"Er, Faylinn," he said, looking embarrassed, "Please don't get the wrong idea – the tapestry conceals a secret corridor, which can only be accessed by stroking the witches back…"

"Oh!" I said, still blushing, though now smiling, "Oh, right. I'm sorry, it's just, I was quite surprised…"

"Very understandable," he said, now also smiling, "I still remember – ah!"

He was cut of by movement behind him; the tapestry sprung backward, revealing a long and dark stone passage way behind it. The walls were covered in spider webs, and the few doors that I could see looked like there were ready to collapse. It smelled odd, like a very old attic. I started at it, shocked.

"How did you know that was there?" I asked, looking at Professor Lupin with wide eyes, "Is this a staff thing?"

He smiled reminiscently, "No, no I don't think many people know about it. Filch does, of course, but my friends and I found this one night back when I was a student here. We were exploring the castle, after curfew," he added, smiling guilty, "and one of my friends, er, couldn't help but stroke the witch. He _was_ only thirteen."

I laughed in wonder. Out of bed after curfew? I should have suspected as much, especially after reading about the jelly prank. The image suited him, very much.

Professor Lupin took a few steps into the corridor, and looked around swiftly, his wand raised. He cast the _homenum__revelio_charm, but there was no one there. He moved forward towards the first door, and then seemed to realise that I had not joined him, and looked back towards the opening of the corridor.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"Er –" I said awkwardly. I was not ready to admit that the corridor was freaking me out; it was dark, dusty and ugly, it smelled funny and I was not a fan of spiders, to say the least.

He seemed to understand however, because he smiled knowingly and said, "Never mind, it's a small corridor, I can finish it off myself."

A minute later, he was finished. He closed the tapestry behind him, and we headed of along the corridor to continue our patrol.

"Do you think Black knows about that? The corridor, I mean," I asked, eyeing the tapestry suspiciously.

Professor Lupin hesitated nervously, and then I remembered. He was friends with Black! He would know exactly whether Black knew or not. And judging by the fact that he bothered to check the corridor at all, Black must know about it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I stuttered, "I didn't mean to, um, well, you know – I'll just shut up now…" I finished lamely.

Professor Lupin raised an eyebrow.

I felt my self blushing, and I hesitated for a moment. Should I tell him I knew about Black? Well, might as well…

"I, um," I paused, cleared my throat, and then said, very quickly, "IknowaboutyouandBlack."

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that."

"I said, I um, I know about you, and Black," I said awkwardly, "That you were good friends, at Hogwarts."

Professor Lupin looked very taken aback, his face slightly pale. There was a moments silence, and then,

"How did you find out?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

I felt horrible for bringing this up; he obviously was not keen on the subject, and who can blame him? Former best friend, murder, apparently killing his two other best friends was not enough, and now he was determined to kill his best friend's son…

"My uncle," I said timidly, "He told me, over the winter break. He was an auror, back when Black was arrested and friends with him in Hogwarts too."

Professor Lupin frown, "Uncle?" and then, he his face lit up in realisation, "Not, not Graham Goodwill?"

"Yes," I said smiling, "That's him. Do you remember him?"

Professor Lupin smiled now, "Yes, he was a few years above us in Hogwarts, but he struck up a good friendship with Sirius, that's how I meet him. He was head boy back when I was in fourth year; he let us get away with so much when we should have been given detention. Haven't seen him in years though, how is he?"

"He's good," I said happily, glad that Professor Lupin was smiling now, "He has a young family, he's retired, of course, just a few years ago, got hurt on the job so he couldn't really continue, being an auror is a tough job, you know…"

"I never realised you were related to him," he said, "You're muggle-born, aren't you?"

"Yes," I said, "I'm the only witch in the family, and he's the only wizard… weird how it works, isn't it?"

"Yes," he said thoughtfully, "Fascinating, but not uncommon."

I hesitated for a moment, and then said, "He, ah, he showed me something, I've been wanting to show you…"

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"It's in my dorm, wait, I'll just – _accio__ uncle grahams photo_!" I said, holding out my wand.

Professor Lupin looked startled, "You can't just summon something from the other side of the castle!"

"Why not?" I asked, grinning, "The corridors are empty –"

I was cut off by a soft zooming sound, and when I looked to my left, I saw the photo stop right in front of my face. I grabbed it quickly, and handed it over to Professor Lupin before he could rebuke me again. He took it curiously.

I watched his eyes grow wide when he realised what it was, smiling sadly as his eyes took in every detail of the picture. He lingered especially on his then girlfriend – Rose Wilson. After a moment, I said,

"There's writing on the back."

He turned it over eagerly, and as he read, his smile lingered but his eyes grew sadder by the second. After a moment, he looked startled, but he read on. I knew he had just seen the part about my name. When he finished, he looked up sadly, but his eyes were full of wonder when he said,

"They used the name I suggested?"

"Looks like it," I said, happily.

"I don't even remember suggesting it, it was so long ago… but I always loved the name Faylinn."

"I like it too. It's different. I guess I have you to thank for that!" I said playfully.

"My pleasure," he replied, his eyes twinkling happily; the traces of sadness lost. Part of me felt guilty, knowing that the next thing I said was likely to cause the sadness to return.

"My uncle, he, um, told me something," I said carefully, "About Black, I mean."

I watched him to check his reaction. He stiffened a little but did not say any anything, so I continued.

"About why he was taken to Azkaban. But he, ah, actually thinks there is a chance he might be, you know, _innocent_."

Professor Lupin looked at me when I said this, looking mildly surprised though grim.

"Really? How did he manage that?"

"Well," I said more confidently, knowing that he wanted me to continue, "First he said that Black would never go over to the dark side. Ever. And he said that Black would have done anything for you, Potter and Pettigrew. And that he loved Potter like a brother. He didn't believe that Black could have betrayed him. He said there was no proof either way. Even if Black was the secret keeper, he could have been forced to speak, tortured or something, but because Black wasn't given a trial, he never have had the chance to defend himself."

Professor Lupin nodded sadly, "Yes, I told myself that too. When I heard the Potters were dead, I was worried about Sirius, knowing that he had been secret keeper. I thought they must have tortured him into speaking," his expression darkened slightly when he said, "It wasn't until he killed Peter and thirteen muggles that I realised that he hadn't been tortured at all – that he had betrayed them."

Seeing him so hurt was depressing.

"He doesn't buy that though. My uncle, I mean."

"No?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "How did he manage to do that? As much as I tried I could not find an excuse for Black – and I tried for months."

"Well, he thinks that muggles aren't reliable witnesses for magical duels. So their testimony won't hold much with him, seeing as how they don't understand magic and all. But what really got to him, and mind you, he _is_ an auror, was the fact that only Pettigrew's finger was found. He said it didn't fit – that he was blown up so badly that only a finger survived, and yet the dead muggles weren't blown up that badly. And then there's the finger itself; why did his finger look like it had been cut off so smoothly, why wasn't it even _scratched_ when the rest of his body couldn't even be found? He doesn't believe it, he thinks things aren't as they seem."

There a moments silence, in which Professor Lupin took in what I said, gazing unseeingly at a stair case to his left.

"I never thought of it that way," he said finally, in a hushed voice. He sighed, longingly, "I – I wish I could believe it. It took me months to stop denying that Sirius really did betray us. What you've told me is interesting, but there's the problem that he has breaken into Gryffindor tower – twice. It doesn't make sense – if was innocent, why would he break into Harry's dorm with a knife?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "Well, I don't know what really happened, but I do know that my uncle was a great auror, even back when Black was arrested, and I respect my uncle heaps, and if he has doubts that Black was guilty, then that's enough for me have doubts too."

Professor Lupin nodded, but did not speak. In fact, I did not think he was able to speak – he looked sad, confused though hopeful, all at the same time.

We continued out patrol in silence; not an awkward one, but one of understanding. I respectfully gave him time to think, to digest what I had said. Occasionally he would look at the picture again, and re-read the letter at least twice. I like to think I've given him hope, and part of me prayed that it was not baseless; that Black was innocent, and that he had some other reason (unfathomable though it may be) to breaking in to Harry's dorm.

At the end of our shift, as we parted ways, he asked me,

"Faylinn, can – can I make a copy of this?"

"Of course, Professor," I replied.

He waved his wand and a moment later, he was holding two photos, and handed the original back to me. I said good bye and left him there. Looking back when I reached the end of the corridor, I saw that he had not moved from his place. His gaze was fixed on the happy memory that he held in his hands, and it was not until I reached Gryffindor Tower that I realised the shine in his eyes at that moment might not have been from the adjacent torch after all.


	14. At Hogsmeade

**Chapter 14**

It was almost as though Audrey was teasing; I was dying to tell her about the nights patrol, and she was no where to be seen in the common room. It was after curfew so she could not be in the library, and she was not in the dorms either. Normally, this peculiar absence would have sparked my interest, but not tonight. No, tonight my mind busy buzzing with the evenings events.

It had been twelve years since the Potters and Pettigrew had died, and Black was sent to Azkaban. Twelve years long years, and still Professor Lupin hurt at the thought of it. And then there as the other girl; Rose Wilson. I'm sure I didn't imagine it – he eyes lingered on her. I wondered vaguely what had really happened to make him break up with her, whether he had still loved her at the time, whether he still does, and whether they ever spoke after that. After six years, there must have been something big for him to pull away… what had Uncle Graham said? Too poor, too dangerous, unwilling to have children. Well, he is not dangerous any more, what with You-Know-Who gone. Unwilling to have children? Was he infertile? No… unwilling makes it sound like he can have kids but does not want to. Odd, really. He is _great_ with kids.

And then there was the poverty issue. It was obvious Professor Lupin was not big on cash. But why? He was extremely intelligent and talented too. He could get a great paying job _easily_. Well, he had one now, at any rate. But for how long? He was teaching DADA, and everyone knew that job was cursed. No DADA Professor had lasted longer than a year for as long as most people could remember.

I slipped in to bed, shaking my head as though to clear my thoughts… it was too confusing. On top of that, he seemed to get sick often, and was a little skinnier than would be expected for a healthy man his age. As the old muggle saying goes, the man is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. And damned handsome too, I thought, as my mind drifted off to sleep.

- - -

When I woke up the following morning, it took me a while to remember why I was still dressed in my school robes. Soon enough though, I realised that I must have fallen asleep unintentionally last night.

As I pulled back my curtains, I saw that the dorm was empty.

"Merlins beard!" I cried out as I jumped out of bed, sure that I was late to class. But before I took even two steps, I saw a note levitating in the air in front of me, with my name on it. It was from Audrey. I snatched it out of the air, and read;

_Fay, I think I'll let you sleep in, I'm off to __Hogsmeade__ with Oliver. See you at dinner!_

_-Audrey._

A wave if relief rushed over me. It's Saturday – Hogsmeade weekend! For a moment I was ready to jump back into bed, but thought better of it. I did not feel much like going to Hogsmeade, especially not alone, and I had a tonne of homework to do anyway.

So, after having a quick shower and finding some fresh robes, I made my way down to breakfast. I had not slept in as late as I thought I had; thought most people had already finished breakfast, there was still a lot of people eating. A quick look up and down the Gryffindor table told me that Audrey and Oliver had already gone, so I took a seat next to Hermione Granger, who was sitting alone and looking stressed.

"Hi Hermione," I said kindly.

She looked startled, but managed a smile when she saw me.

"Oh, hello, Faylinn," she replied, and seeing me add food to my plate asked, "Had a sleep in?"

"Yeh," I said, wishing I was still in bed, "Haven't had much sleep lately, to be honest, you know, NEWTs in four months time, it's a nightmare! It's like doing OWL's all over again, only worse! Still…" I added, taking in the dark circles under Hermione's eyes. They reminded me of how tired Professor Lupin looked when he was sick, "I can't complain much, I haven't got as many subjects as you."

Hermione nodded, "I know exactly what you mean. I've been losing too much sleep myself. It's all I seem to be doing these days, you know, studying."

Her eyes flickered for a moment across the table, towards Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. I knew they were fighting; something about Hermione's cat eating Ron's rat. Not that I cared much, I've always hated rats… never understood why anyone would bother actually keeping one alive. But I felt bad for Hermione; that Weasley was being a git.

Before I could say anything else, Hermione abruptly excused herself from the table, and hurried out of the hall, and then, only seconds later, an owl landed in her half eaten cereal. It was my uncle's owl. I carefully removed the letter from the owl's leg. It was from mum; we did not have an owl, so she often borrowed my uncles one.

_Dear __sweety__, just letting you __know__ that your dad sprained his ankle yesterday. Nothing too serious, but he has to take a week off from work. It would be nice if you sent him a little get well note._

_Hoping your well, __Mum_

Oh, poor dad. I sprained my ankle once when I was about ten. It hurt, a lot. My foot is still a little swollen at the top. Quickly finishing my breakfast (By which time most students were already at Hogsmeade), I stood up to take the owl up to my dorm so I could write a note, but when I saw Filch and his loathsome cat stalking the entrance hall, I was hit with a better idea: the apothecary was bound to have something to heal dad's foot.

I sent my uncles owl back to my uncle's house, thinking I could just use a school owl later on, and made my way to Hogsmeade. Alone. No one even goes to Hogsmeade alone, but it was not like I could just conjure up an inflatable friend dressed in Gryffindor robes to escort me.

Hogsmeade was full of students, all making the most of the still rather cold though snow free weather, filling their pockets with Honeydukes best chocolate and as many dungbombs as they could carry. Otherwise, they were just enjoying the sites, having a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks or holding hands over a coffee at Madam Puddifoot's. As I walked past the frilly teashop, I looked in through the windows hoping to see Audrey. I immediately spotted Percy with his Ravenclaw girl friend, kissing. If you could call it kissing, that is, it looks more like Percy was trying to deliver a speech in front of the ministry, and I was eternally grateful that Percy was not the one to cure me from the poisoned apple. Yuk.

Looking past the happy couple, I quickly scanned the room, but there was no sign of Audrey or Oliver, so I turned away and made my way down to the apothecary. Not that I expected her to be in the teashop. Neither of us liked the place very much. Not only was it horribly decorated, it was small and cramped, and couples were shamelessly kissing in every direction you looked. I could still remember my first and only date in there. I accidentally spilt my hot tea all over my dates robes, and, being the arrogant git he was, he suggested I apologise with a good snog. Needless to say, I didn't think much of that idea, and when I told so, he stood up, ranting loudly for all to hear that he could have any girl he wanted and that he didn't know why he was wasting his time with a "frigid hag", and left. Didn't even pay for his drink. That was in fourth year, and I have not been on a date since.

Three years, I thought bitterly, three years since my last date. That's pretty sad, I admitted to myself, and even worse, I was crushing on a teacher too, which is itself a useless pursuit, nothing could ever happen between us unless it involved a rogue boggart and a poisoned apple. And it's not like I was getting any younger – wizardkind usually marry a year or too after graduating from Hogwarts, but prospects were not looking so great for me. No, if there was a department I was lacking in, it was a love life. I mean, seriously, even Percy, the _Percy __Weasley_, had a steady relationship going!

I forcefully pushed those thoughts out of my mind as I entered the apothecary. The assistant was young, but she really knew her stuff. As soon as I explained about my dad's broken ankle, she was pulling a small bottle of lotion from the shelf.

"See, this stuff 'ere," she said happily, "It's great for sprains 'nd the like, specially designed for it. You just rub it on, and it will 'ave 'ealed in five minutes, ten minutes if it's a really bad one."

"Does it work for muggles?" I asked.

"Muggles, ay?" she thought for a moment, "How old are we talking?"

"Fourty two years old."

"Should be fine, though never use this for muggles over seventy, does funny stuff to their skin, it does. Your dad should be right, though, but I 'xpect it might take a good hour or two for it too fully 'eal."

I paid for the lotion, thanked the witch and made my way back down the street. Dad would love this. He loves magic, even though he can't do it. When I became of age he was asking me to show him all sorts of things, and over the winter break, when I had showed him my Partonus he was absolutely delighted.

As I continued walking down the street, I noticed a couple walking together, holding hands, coming towards me. It was Audrey and Oliver! Holding hands, how cute! At least one of us has something going for her. Not wanting to disturb them, I slipped into the closest shop and watched them pass though the window.

"…and my uncle will be proud, he's always wanted a professional Quidditch player in the family. But what about you, what have…" Oliver's voice drifted in through the open door, and a moment later it was gone.

I made to leave the shop, and it was not until then that I realised where I was. It was a men's clothing store, filled with rows and rows of designer robes, trousers, shirts and jumpers. A jumper close by caught my eye; it was v-necked and elegant, a deep red-brown in colour with black lining around the neck and cuffs. It reminded me of a jumper Professor Lupin wore, though while his was rather worn out and coloured grey, this one was in perfect condition (well obviously, it's new). I spared myself a moment to imagine how smart Professor Lupin would look in that jumper and how great the colour would match his pale skin and light brown hair. A quick look at the price tag told me he was unlikely to be able to afford it.

You could buy it for him… suggested a voice somewhere in the back of my mind. Buy a teacher a present? Talk about awkward! He wouldn't have to know it was from you… said the voice, and Valentines Day _is_ this Friday… Er, but he is a teacher… the voice huffed impatiently, come on, he deservers it, and you have heaps of gold!

Why am I talking to myself? Fine! I'll get the damn jumper. But what good would one jumper be, he would need a matching robe and trousers… Right, so I'll get those too. Smiling nervously, I picked up the red-brown jumper, hardly daring to believe I was really doing this.

He deserves it, I told myself, over and over again. And it was true. He did deserve it. So, ten minutes later, I was paying for three jumpers, two robes, two pairs of trousers and a shirt (Well, what good is only _one_ set of new clothes? I had told myself. And the robes were on special anyway… twenty five perfect off! How could I resist?) I was not sure about his size, so the shop assistant threw in a free magically size adjustment tab which was designed especially for the clothing that he sold.

Before leaving the store (and making sure the assistant was helping another customer) I transfigured the bags into plain brown paper bags, so no one would know what I had bought, and covered my face with a cloak. I sighed loudly as I made my way down the crowded Hosgmeade street; just when I thought my life could not get any sadder, I went and spent a fortnights worth of allowance money to buy a teacher a Valentines Day gift…


	15. The Gift

Having no plan to tell Audrey about the gift, I hid it carefully in my wardrobe. It was not because I did not trust her, but because she would probably think I am insane, or taking this whole crush thing too far, but deep down inside I knew it was innocent of both charges. No, it was because I knew what it was like to be poor and to be teased for my shabby clothes that I bought this gift for Professor Lupin. My family had been poor for a long time during my youth, and it was only six year ago that dad found a very, very well paying job. Even coming to Hogwarts was a challenge; my parents could not afford it, and the only reason I made it here was because Uncle Graham insisted on paying all my fees until my parents could afford it themselves. His help had meant the world for me, and though my gift is no where near as special, I hope it will mean something to the Professor.

Once satisfied that the gifts were well hidden, I made my way to the almost empty common room, and hit the books. Figuratively speaking, of course, though the literal alternative was looking quite tempting by the time I had started on Snapes essay ("Discuss the essential properties of different potions that can be used to control, treat or kill vampires".) If it weren't for the fact that he often used garlic in class, I would have said the man was a vampire himself.

About an hour before dinner time, students started returning to the common, and, consequently, I was finding it harder than ever to concentrate. Then, when Audrey finally arrived in the common room, all pretence of study was abandoned.

Audrey sunk deep into the armchair besides me, smiling broadly, her checks rose-red from the cold.

"What a day," she sighed.

"Someone had a good time, it seems," I commented happily.

Audrey nodded and smiled reminiscently.

"Well?" I demanded, "Don't keep me in suspense! How was the date?"

"Great, Fay, it was just great. Would you believe Oliver can be quite the gentleman when the time calls?"

"Well," I said, smiling cheekily, "I have been known to believe some rather absurd things…"

Audrey punched me playfully on the arm, her eyes sparkling excitedly.

"No, seriously, for a guy so into Quidditch, he really is a gentleman, he paid for my drink and food, opened doors for me, and carried all my stuff!" she said, indicating to the plastic bags at her side. She leaned forward and opened a bright blue one, and pulled out a single red rose. But it was not just any rose. It was a real rose, though slightly transparent, and was coated with a layer of very thin, flexible and glossy glass. It was known as greeglass, a nature preservative for plants, and very expensive.

I let out a long whistle, "He bought that for you?"

"Yeh," she replied, admiring the rose, "Isn't it gorgeous?"

I nodded, "So, Oliver really knows his stuff, huh?"

"He does… things are going really good between us."

"That's excellent," I said, and even though I meant it with all my heart, I could not help but feel a slight pang of longing. No guy had ever done anything so nice for me.

- - -

Friday evening. Destination: owlery. Yes, that's right. Valentines Day is here, and I have three hours to slip Professor Lupin his gift. Slipping out of the common room unquestioned was the easy part; Audrey was busy 'celebrating' Valentines Day so I did not have to offer her some excuse, and I avoided any curious stares by putting an undetectable expanding charm on my backpack and hiding the gift in there.

The owlery was deserted when I arrived, except, of course, for the hundred or so owls. I quickly found a strong looking school owl and tied the package and note to its leg. It was a simple letter that said:

_An old saying goes: Love for others what you love for yourself. _

_Enclosed is what I __like__ for myself, __so__ I hope that you will __like__ it too._

_Happy Valentines Day, Professor. _

Of course, I did not right it myself. That would have been a dead give away, seeing as how he marks my work about once a week. Instead I used the same charm that girl used to write on my forehead; it was a little messy but at least it did not look like my hand writing.

"I need you to leave the owlery now, but don't deliver the package until an hour from now, okay?" I said to the owl (even though I have been using owls for seven years now, I still feel foolish giving them instructions in English).

It hooted agreeably and flew out of the owlery. Call me paranoid, but it would definitely look suspicious if Professor Lupin receives the package two minutes after I was sighted at the owlery.

- - -

At five to eight that evening, I found myself standing outside Professor Lupins office, knocking. I was excited. It had been an hour since the owl delivered the package, and question after question was rushing through my mind; will he be offended? Will he like the gift? Is it his taste in clothing? Will he be too embarrassed to admit to receiving clothes on Valentines Day from a student? Was he wearing them already? Well, there was only one way to find out…

"Come in," called Professor Lupin from inside the office.

I entered the room in what I hoped was a casual way, and closed the door behind me. Then, when I turned around to face the inside of the office, what I saw made my eyes open very wide indeed.

"Good evening, Miss Goodwill," said a beaming Professor Dumbledore. He stood next to a rather bemused looking Professor Lupin, who, in turn, stood by his desk, which was covered with what appeared to be letters, cards and presents, many of them suspiciously pink…

"G-good evening, Professor," I stumered (Hey, it wasn't every day that Dumbledore himself speaks to you directly).

My eyes quickly found their way back to the desk. Valentines Day cards! Were these all for Professor Lupin? My own package was hard to miss amongst the rest; it was easily the largest. A few of the clothing items were hanging out of the bag. I felt a slightly annoyed – how could I have not realised that other students might send him something too? But, on the bright side, at least now my gift is less suspicious.

I heard Professor Dumbledore chuckle, and turned to look at him.

"I see you've notice our little issue here," he said, indicating at the gifts.

"Valentines Day gifts. If I'm not mistaken," I said, trying to act amused rather than guilty, "Though I don't see why that is an issue?"

Professor Lupin cleared his throat, "It is an issue," he said, looking slightly embarrassed and totally bewildered, "because most of the gifts appear to be from _students_."

I forcibly bit back a grin. I loved when he looked so confused. It made me want to ruffle his hair.

"How do you know they are from students, Professor?" I asked innocently.

"Well, most of them are signed, and most of the ones that aren't were delivered by school owls."

Some girls actually _signed_ them? Wow, talk about no shame…

"Well, Remus," said Professor Dumbledore, "I see no reason why you should not accept the gifts. There has been no breach of any laws that I know off."

"But I'm a teacher!" Professor Lupin protested, "I shouldn't be receiving these kinds of gifts and letters from students."

"No, I must say it is a rather recent phenomenon," he replied, "Our last years DADA Professor also received a large number of Valentines Day cards, though I must say I think you've broken his record."

He paused to look through a couple of cards, one of them seemed to amuse him, and he read it out loud, "_Dear Professor Lupin, I've never enjoyed DADA much until this year. You have made it my favourite subject, but I must admit I find it hard to concentrate in class sometimes, especially on days when your hair is dishevelled (I noticed it tends to be that way one windy days). Don't get me wrong__ –__ it looks great, but it is hurting my marks, so could you please try to keep it tidy? __Happy Valentines day!_"

Professor Lupin blushed at this, and his hand automatically reached for his hair, flattening it down. Professor Dumbledore chuckled and I fought to stifle a giggle. I did not have to fight for long though; my laughter died away immediately when Professor Dumbledore's hands reached out for my package.

"But what is this?" he said, sounding impressed as he looked through the clothing, "Very thoughtful… was this package signed?"

Professor Lupin shook his head, "No."

"Have you tried them on yet?"

"Of course not, I didn't think it appropriate for me –"

"Nonsense!" said Professor Dumbledore, cutting him off, "Allow me."

Before he could protest, the headmaster waved his wand and a moment later Professor Lupin stood by his desk, looking very handsome in the clothes I had bought him.

Professor Dumbledore had forced him into a midnight black robe with a thin silver lining along the edges. It was simple but elegant. It was hanging open, so that his clothes underneath were visible, and I saw that he was wearing the dark grey jumper and trousers. The effect it had on him was amazing; seeing him in new clothes easily took a few years off him. Man, did I have good taste or what.

Professor Dumbledore beamed as Professor Lupin examined his new outfit. I held my breath waiting for any sign of approvable.

"Comfortable," he muttered, finally.

I breathed again. He liked it.

"Very well," said Professor Dumbledore, "Now that we've sorted that out, I must be getting back to my office. Enjoy your evening."

He shook hands with Professor Lupin, nodded in my direction, and left the office.

"Well, I suppose we should get going, then," Professor Lupin said awkwardly. I could tell he was nervous about leaving his office in his new outfit, but since it was after curfew, he was unlikely to run into anyone. Or so I thought.

"I'm assuming there will be a number of students out of bed tonight," he said as we walked towards the charms corridor.

"Really?" I asked, surprised, "How come?"

"Valentines Day tradition," he said simply, "Well, at least it was when I was a prefect…"

"Ah," I said, smirking, "I see."

As we started out rounds, I wondered vaguely whether he ever snuck out of the common room on Valentines Day when he was a student. It was likely; he did have a girlfriend after all.

The evening started out quietly enough; it was not until we were half way through checking the transfiguration corridor that something unusual happened.

It happened when I reached out my hand to open the door of a classroom what was no longer used; a sudden, sharp burning sensation rushed through my whole body, causing me gasp in pain and fall to the floor, flat on my back. And then, as suddenly as it came, it was gone.

"Faylinn!" cried Professor Lupin, "Are you okay?"

He leaned down next to me, his face lined with concern.

"I- I'm fine" I said. It was true for the most part, but as I tried to stand up, I found that myself feeling extremely weak. I managed to support myself for a moment, but then my knees buckled, and I was overcome by dizziness, my vision faded slightly and I felt myself falling again. I braced for the impact, but it didn't come. Instead, I felt something grab me around the waist and hold me up straight. I found myself leaning against something very solid, something that stopped me from falling.

I closed me eyes, waiting for the dizziness to pass. Slowly, my legs regained their strength and my mind cleared. I noticed I was leaning against something very warm. I opened my eyes, and what I saw almost made my knees buckle again.

I was leaning against Professor Lupin's chest, and he was holding me around the waist, to stop me from falling. I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks as I carefully pulled myself away from him, so that I was standing without his support, but he kept a firm grip on my arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

I nodded slowly. My brain felt like it was overloading with information; the burning sensation, the fall, the dizziness, the _leaning against his chest_.

"What h-happened?" I stumered, hoping he did not notice how embarrassed I was.

"I don't know – I didn't see anything," he said hurriedly, "Did you see anything?"

"No," I said. The seriousness of the situation slowly dawning on me, "No, I just felt a – burning sensation through my body. It made me fall… but it went away quickly."

Professor Lupin stiffened suddenly, and quickly looked up and down the corridor. I followed his gaze. Did he think I was attacked? Apparently, yes, because the next moment, he pulled me towards the wall, let go of my arm and stood directly in front of me, shielding me defensively with his body. He raised his wand hand and said firmly, "_homenum__revelio_".

At first nothing happened, then there was a load thud and looking to my left, I saw two figures fall to the floor from behind a large suit of armour, some ten metres away. It was Draco Malfoy, and a third year girl I knew was called Pansy Parkinson who was too arrogant for her own good.

Professor Lupin turned to me, looking very annoyed, and asked, "Will you be able to stand on your own?"

"I'm fine Professor," I replied hastily. I was not about to show any weakness in front of the two Slytherins who had presumably just hexed me.

Professor Lupin nodded and turned towards the Slytherins, who were now getting to their feet and wearing almost identical smirks.

"Did one of you hexed Faylinn?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically stern.

Malfoy straightened up haughtily and said, "I did."

I frowned, annoyed at what he had done and angry that he dared to speak to Professor Lupin so disrespectfully; even Slytherins generally spoke to teachers with respect.

"Two detentions, Draco, for attacking a student and breaking curfew, and a detention for you too, Pansy, for breaking curfew. And forty points Slytherin. Now, off to bed."

Both students frowned at this (Honestly, what else did they expect?) and walked off, though not without a final insult. Pansy sneered at Professor Lupin's outfit and as she walked past me she said in a low voice that would not reach the Professors ears, "Getting desperate, aren't you Goodwill? What, no one younger would have you?"

I glared back at her defiantly and rolled my eyes, but, truth be told, her words cut like a knife. A loser seventh year lusting over her handsome Professor, never even had a real boyfriend. Yeh, that's me.

I leaned back glumly against the wall as she turned the corner, her words still ringing in my ears. _No one younger would have you?_

"Who needs young, anyway?" I muttered bitterly.

"Sorry?" asked Professor Lupin, as appeared ay my side again.

I started, having forgotten he was there.

"Nothing, Professor," I said quickly. I looked at him for a moment and smiled. I couldn't help it – it was amazing what the new clothes had done for him, "Shall we continue the patrol then?"

He considered me uncertainly for a moment.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go back to Gryffindor tower? I can finish off by myself," he offered.

I stood up straight, moving away from the wall. And miss the time I can spend alone with you? I thought. I think not!

"Of course not, I feel fine Professor."

"Okay, but if you feel tired just let me know, I won't mind," he said.

We spent the next ten minutes completing the transfiguration corridors. Again, I waited for Professor Lupin to check the hidden passage alone, and then we head off to patrol the corridors. Now that I did not have anything to distract me, my thoughts wondered back to Parkinson's snide remark. The girl was just being her usually stupid self, I was sure of it, but she hit a nerve. Sure, I'd been on a date or two, but they had always ended badly. What if no one _ever_ took interest in me? Then what? Would I just become some aging lonely woman living all alone in rental apartment, putting everything into my career because I have nothing waiting for me at home? Or what if I never took interest in anyone? Someone realistic, that is… someone I would actually stand a chance with? No husband, no children… I sighed softly, shaking my head as thought to dislodge the thoughts. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. There's still plenty of men out there, out side the castle walls.

"Is something bothering you, Faylinn?" asked Professor Lupin, his voice shattering my thoughts.

I looked up at him and saw that he as watching me, he looked slightly concerned.

"I, uh, it's nothing. Nothing important," I stuttered quickly.

"You're sure?" he asked, smiling softly, "I would say that the frown you were wearing was a little too big for nothing important."

I smiled back, "No, I guess it wasn't nothing… well, you wouldn't understand anyway…"

"No?" he replied, "Well, I must say I do like a challenge. Who knows? I might even understand more than you do. Try me."

I chuckled softly. It would be a pretty embarrassing issue to pursue with a teacher, especially one as handsome and wonderful as him. Would he understand? I considered him for a moment and it hit me quickly. He was single too, and he was way older than me.

"You're right," I said suddenly, without thinking, "You would understand."

He looked a little taken-aback, and said, "Really?"

"Yeh, well," I stared, and then blushed slightly as I added, "I mean, you're single, aren't you?"

What ever Professor Lupin had been expecting, that certainly was not it. He looked startled for a moment and then admitted, "Yes, I am."

"But why?" I asked, frowning. It did not make sense – he must have had at least twenty different Valentines Day cards on his desk. If students had crushes on him, surely the older women would be head over heels too?

He cleared his throat and looked very uncomfortable when he said, "Personal circumstances. At any rate, I thought this was meant to be about you? Surely what ever is bothering you has little to do with my own status."

Personal circumstances? Could that possible have something to do with being poor, dangerous (though that option seemed to have died out with You-Know-Who) and for some reason not interested in having children? I really wanted to ask, but knew it would be getting too personal.

"I guess, I was just thinking that, you know, I'm getting older. Half my year level will probably be getting married in a year or so, I've never even been in a serious relationship…" I paused, thinking he must think I sound like a rambling lunatic, "It's nothing important, I guess. I'm just, being silly."

To my surprise, Professor Lupin shook his head and said, "It isn't silly. I think at your age it is a valid concern. I suppose it makes you worry when you see so many of your friends in steady relationships?"

I nodded, "Yeh, something like that…"

"Don't worry about it too much. It's likely that many of those couples will break apart and not end up in marriage at all."

He paused for a moment, and I was certain that he was thinking about himself and Rose.

"It is tradition for wizards and witches to marry soon after graduating from Hogwarts, and for the most part that is what happens, but you will find that many people aren't that fortunate. It is not uncommon for people to wed in their mid- to late-twenties. And anyway, statistically speaking, most people don't meet their future spouse at Hogwarts, or if they do, they don't date until they have graduated"

"Really?" I asked. In truth, I felt more than just a little relieved, "Wow, you've taken a lot off my shoulders, Professor. Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said, smiling sincerely.

We continued our patrol, and I watched him with marvel. It was amazing what he could do with a few well chosen words. I knew this was probably not very good for my crush, but the man really is incredible.


	16. Careers

Without doubt, it would be a while before I forget the breakfast of Saturday February the 15th. Somehow, I don't think Professor Lupin was likely to forget it any time soon either. I mean, it would be pretty hard to forget that roughly two thirds of the schools students had followed you with their eyes locked on your new outfit as you walked up to the teachers table, some of them sneering (mostly Slytherins, who cares about them anyway?), though most of them wearing looks of polite interest. And let's not forget the many – admittedly, mostly female – students giggling nervously, staring shamelessly with their mouths hanging open, sighing loudly and even whistling.

Unfortunately, though Professor Lupin related memories or incidences were always enjoyable, no amount of happy patrolling could distract me from the stress of the approaching NEWT's. Every passing day, every lesson, every minute spent pouring through book after book was a dreadful reminder of the exams that awaited the seventh year students that June. The exams that would more or less determine our future careers.

"Audrey, I think I am going to crack," I cried throwing my quill down on to my dismal DADA assignment in frustration. It was very late at night, everyone except for the seventh years, a few fifth years and Hermione Granger was asleep.

Audrey looked up at me from across the table, putting down her own quill and rubbing the sleep out of her tired eyes.

"Me too, this is just too much. It's like doing OWL's all over again, but worse," she said bitterly.

"A trillion times worse," I added, stifling a yawn.

"Have you finished Lupin's essay yet?" she asked.

"No!" I moaned, slamming my head into my arms, "And I'm so tempted to do a crappy job off it too, but I can't, I've done that too many times and he always knows when I haven't put in real effort. How about you?"

"Almost done… but I really can't continue. Do you think we could finish it off during our free tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" I agreed, thinking that at least I can finish it off when it's nice and early and my brain is actually functioning.

But of course, I was wrong, for our morning free the next day was after transfiguration, where McGonagall gave me even more to worry about.

"Now is the time you all need to start thinking about your future professions, and considering where to lodge job applications. Most of you, I am sure, will already know exactly what you intended to do after Hogwarts, others will be less certain. Now is the time for you to think and to take advantage of the resources Hogwarts has to offer. Talk to each other, to teachers, make use of the library. Everything will help you in making your decision."

Just when I thought things could not get any more stressful.

"Audrey," I said as we walked to the library, "Are you still planning on working at the Ministry?"

"Yeh, that's the plan," she replied, "And you still haven't got a clue?"

"No freaking idea," I said, shaking my head miserably, "I feel so behind! You and Percy both want to work at the Ministry, Oliver wants to be a Quidditch player… it's like everyone knows except for me!"

"Nothing at all?" Audrey pressed, "Think about what subjects you like."

"I love potions. That's got to be something right? I mean, we have Snape for it and I still enjoy it. I enjoy charms too… I don't mind transfiguration."

"Wow, what about DADA, thought that would be at the top of the list?" Audrey asked mockingly.

I laughed, "Yeh, it's pretty good. But I can't see myself having a career in it. Mind you, if you're thinking I'm going to say I love it just because of the teacher, think again. I've always enjoyed it when we actually had decent teachers though."

"No, I didn't expect you to be so shallow. But you know what I think you would like?"

"What?"

"Healing, it combines everything you like, doesn't it? Potions, charms, and you never know when you might need to transfigure something…" Audrey suggested.

"Healing?" I considered it for a moment, thinking out loud, though not too loudly as we have just entered the library, "I'm squeamish though. I don't mind blood. Blood is cool. I don't mind scars either. Scars are really cool. But guts and open wounds and poisoning and all that? And the death and sadness? Nah I think I'll pass."

Audrey rolled her eyes, "Yeh, blood is a blast, isn't it? Anyway, what about research then?"

"Research?" I asked, this time with considerable interest, "What type, exactly?"

"I was thinking potions. I know St Mungo's has a research area where they try to make potions to cure things. And they've just expanded their research facility to included research for remedies for creature-induced injuries."

"Hmm… you know, that does sound pretty cool…" I said, cheering up slightly, "Yeh, actually, I think I might like that. I think I might look into it…"

* * *

**AN – Sorry, I know it's short, but things start to get very interesting next chapter, trust me. ;)**


	17. Potions

"Easter break, finally!" I cried, collapsing in to an armchair next to Audrey. I had just finished the nights patrol with Professor Lupin, and thought it was an hour very well spent, I was exhausted.

"Finally?" asked Audrey sceptically, "You realise this is just an excuse for the teachers to pile us with more revision, don't you? I'll be amazed if we have time to breathe, even."

"Who do I look like, the Easter bunny? Of course I realised!" I replied, pulling a few booklets out of my bag, "But at least I'll have a little spare time to read up on careers. I got these from the library."

I spread the booklets out on the table in front of me.

"That's a lot of booklet's to read," Audrey commented, looking slightly repulsed, "I think I've had enough reading to last me a life time."

"I'm not going to read them all!" I said defensively, "Just skim through them and read the ones that sound good. They're all potions related. I figured you were right. Potions is my strength, so I'll play at that. I got a few on careers in general, not specifically potions related, just in case. That one is about research in general, the blue one is about being a potions inspector, to make sure all the potions are safe before sold, see, and there's a couple about working as a potions maker in apothecaries and stuff like that too," I leaned forward and picked up a particularly big booklet, "This one is for St Mungo's, it's got everything the place offers, including healing and stuff, but there's a good section in here on research staff too."

I sat back comfortably in my armchair and began to read the St Mungo's booklet. The research department was very interesting, and well-known world wide. They had a wing for potions to cure poisons, (the main research at the moment being a cure for basilisk poisoning, which, surprising, is very common these days due to illegal supplies of the venom circulating around the criminal world), a wing for cures for natural age related illness, wand-work related injuries, and the new wing for creature-inflicted injuries Audrey mentioned. It includes research for curing werewolf and vampire bites, and research for a potion that could take the place of human blood for vampires was already underway, with other projects to be initiated shortly.

Flicking through the other booklets, I found information about a few other potions research institutions (most of them more commercial orientated – cures for acne and permanent hair colouring potions and the like), and the information about being a potions maker for apothecaries was interesting too. Though I was still undecided, at least know I had a few options I was seriously considering.

As far as the Easter holidays were concerned, Audrey's was right. It felt less like a holiday and more like one of those dreaded weekend ends just before a Monday test. In other words, lots of study, lots of stress, and very little sleep. Even the younger kids seemed to be over-loaded. There was a rather funny incident in the common room one afternoon when a sandy haired third year boy who I'm pretty sure was called Seamus Finnigan roared,

"Call this a holiday! The exams are ages away, what are they playing at?"

Audrey and I both snorted when we heard this and rolled our eyes. Poor kid, he has no idea what awaits him.

Audrey was finding the holidays even worse than I was, because although we didn't have class, she was not able to spend much time with Oliver because of the approaching Quidditch final and he was training more than ever. Thought, to be fair, he still made a point of sitting with her at dinner when he got the chance.

- - -

"Can I leave my bag here Professor? It's heavy, I'd rather not carry it around on the patrol," I asked.

Professor Lupin nodded, "Just leave it by my desk," he replied, "And make sure you remember to pick it up after patrol."

I dragged my bag over to his desk and placed it on his desk. It made a distinct thud. Never again, I told myself, never again will I borrow so many books from the library all in one go.

I followed Professor Lupin out of his office. He was walking a little slower than usual; he seemed tired. I wondered whether he was becoming sick again. The poor guy seemed to get sick very often.

Their patrol had become very routine over the past few weeks. Check the charms and transfiguration wings and then patrol the corridors. Patrolling the corridors was my favourite part; just me and Professor Lupin, alone, free to talk about almost anything we want. With in reason, of course. He is still my teacher, and I am still his student, but any conversation with him was worth the time spent. Today, he bought up the issue of careers.

"Have you thought about what you plan to do after Hogwarts?" he asked, as we walked along a long corridor with large arched windows. The clear sky outside was spotted with hundred of bright stars, all of them feeble compared to the almost-full moon.

"Yeh, a bit, I guess," I replied, sighing softly, "I'm not really sure though. I've narrowed it down enough to know that I'd be interested in something potions related, though."

"Potions?" he replied, grimacing playfully.

"What, you don't like it?" I asked.

"No, I never showed much aptitude for it, actually," he replied, "You aren't interested in anything related to Defence Against the Dark Arts, then? I had the impression that you really enjoy it."

"Well, I do enjoy it," I said carefully, "But that is probably more because you teach it very well, but I can't say I would want to pursue a career in it."

"Thank you," he said, smiling at the compliment, "Well then, what kind of potion-related occupation are you considering?"

"I'm still not sure. A position at the St Mungo's research department would be cool, I think. Or maybe something apothecary-related."

"Ah," he said fondly, "Yes, the St Mungo's research department is very prestigious. They have made many astounding discoveries over the last few years. They have very strict OWL's and NEWT's requirements though, don't they?"

"Yeh," I said unenthusiastically. It seemed almost impossible to get into the research department, which is one of the reasons I was not letting myself get too excited over the prospect of working there, "For OWL's they want O for potions, DADA, charms, and transfiguration and an O for Potions in NEWT's and E for the other three."

"I'm more than confident you can get an E for your defence NEWT," Professor Lupin said immediately, smiling encouragingly.

"I think so too, but there's a problem, see," I replied blushing slightly. I was not too eager to share certain information with the Professor.

"What problem?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"I, er, I didn't get an O for my DADA OWL. I got an E," I mumbled quickly.

"Ah," he replied, looking thoughtful, "Would they still consider you?"

"Only if I get an O for my NEWT…" I said glumly. I knew impossible when I saw it. And an O for my DADA NEWT was as impossible as it could get.

"Well, you stand a good chance then," he said cheerily.

I raised an eyebrow in response.

He chuckled, "You don't think you can get an O?"

I shook my head, "Of course not… I didn't even get one for my OWL's, how can I get it at NEWT's level then?"

"I don't know what happened with your OWL, but I know you have the potential to get an O in NEWT's, if you study hard enough. At the moment I would say you are easily in the E range, with some more effort I'm confident you can receive an O."

I paused for a moment, "You really reckon I can?"

"Of course, I am your teacher. I know potential when I see. I myself received an O NEWT when I was at Hogwarts, and it took me much longer than you to master a patronus."

I blushed slightly; as one often did when complimented by a person they held in high-esteem.

"Thank you," I said, smiling.

"For?"

"For having confidence in me. And you've given me confidence too."

He smiled, running a hand through his hair, "It's my pleasure."

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, where did you used to work before you came to teach here?"

Professor Lupin's smile faded quickly and I suddenly found myself feeling nervous. I did not think he liked the question much.

"A number of places," he said, without looking at me.

He did not elaborate, and I did not pursue the topic as he was obviously not keen on discussing it. There was an awkward silence, and then –

"I'm sorry if I was rude, just then," he blurted out.

"Oh," I said, taken aback, "It's okay Professor, I understand if you don't want to talk about it…"

"Thank you," he replied, looking out a passing window at the night sky.

Ten minutes later, our patrol came to an end and Professor Lupin walked me back to his office so I could collect my bag before he walked me to my dorm.

I entered the dark office alone while Professor Lupin waited outside and hurried towards the desk to grab my bag. The only source of light was the moon, and so it was so dark that I did not notice the full goblet also on the desk, which was a big mistake, because when I pulled my heavy bag off the table, it brushed against the goblet. Luckily, it did not fall over, but a fair bit of the potion inside it slipped over the edge and on to Professor Lupin's desk.

"Merlin's beard!" I gasped quietly, "I'm such an idiot."

I quietly reached for my wand and leaned closer to the goblet to clean up the mess I made. I paused for a moment, wrinkling my nose. It smelled horrible. I remembered the smell immediately; it was the medicine Professor Lupin took. In the dim light I could just see that the potion was a shimmering golden-green in colour. There was something very familiar about it…

I picked up the goblet and moved a paper from under it, which was now soaked by the potion, but I could still make out the writing. What intrigued me most was that it was clearly Snape's handwriting.

_Drink it all before midnight. I have more in my office._

I frowned; putting the goblet back down on the desk. The potion looked so familiar, but I just couldn't think where I had seen it before. The smell I knew, obviously, from the time I saw the empty goblet. But the shimmering golden-green?

A cloud outside moved forward, blocking the moon, and the room darkened. I looked out the window and watched as the cloud passed and the moon was visible again.

The moon.

The almost full-moon.

It struck me. My grip tightened on my bag and my heart pounded faster than ever. I had seen this potion before. I knew what it was.

_Wolfsbane_.

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**A/N - Drum roll please:D Please review! The more reviews, the happier I am to post early! **


	18. Normal, Just like me

Wolfsbane. It was wolfsbane. There was no doubt about that. My heart was beating frantically as I felt my forehead break out in a sweat. My eyes were fixed on the moon outside.

He has a goblet of wolfsbane in his office. On his desk. With a note to drink it. And the moon is almost full. That could only mean one thing.

_Professor Lupin is a werewolf._

I panicked. A werewolf. I'm alone, at night, with a werewolf. There was only one functional thought that dominated my mind at the moment – I need to get away from here. Run now, think later. It was survivors instinct.

I reached for my wand and at the same moment, the door opened behind me. I spun around on my spot as Professor Lupin's voice echoed through out the room.

"Faylinn?" he called from outside.

Without thinking, I raised my wand, slammed the door shut, pushing Professor Lupin back away from the door. I locked it magically. But I knew it would not hold for long, he could unlock it as easily as I had locked it.

"Faylinn? What are you doing?" he called out, banging hard on the door. He sounded confused and worried.

"Oh no, oh no…" I muttered anxiously.

I frantically looked around the room. There was a large wooden filing cabinet against one wall.

"_Loco__motor__ cabinet_!" I cried, and moved the cabinet so that it blocked the door. It landed at the same time that the lock clicked open. I could hear him rattling the handle but it was a fruitless attempt – the door was as good as blocked.

That should buy me some time, I thought, my chest heaving with every deep breathe I took. I have to get out of here. I ran to the window and looked out, but it was hopeless, I was at least 3 levels high and without a broom.

"Faylinn, _what_ is going on?" Professor Lupin demanded breathlessly. He was pushing against the door and the cabinet had moved an inch.

I looked around the office again, and this I noticed the empty fire place.

"_The __Floo__ network_!" I exclaimed, running forward towards the fire. There must be floo powder here somewhere. I searched around the fireplace and quickly found a small bowl, but there was hardly enough powder left to pinch between two fingers. It was not enough.

At that moment Professor Lupin elbowed the door with strength I did not know he had, and the cabinet smashed on to the floor with a mighty thud.

He stepped into the room quickly, breathing hard, "What's wrong? Is everything –"

He stopped mid-sentence and froze in his spot when I raised my wand defensively, aiming directly at his chest.

"Don't move," I instead, my voice panicked, shaking. My eyes were locked on his wand, which was pointing uselessly at the ground.

What if he realises? I thought frantically, what if he realises I found out? What will he do? _I have to get out of here_.

He looked incredulously at my wand, which I held in a trembling hand, then at my panicked expression. He was beyond confused. He then let his eyes move beyond me, and I knew his eyes were fixed on the goblet. His expressing changed suddenly. He understood. He looked at me differently now. There was realisation, worry and what I suspected might be fear in his expression.

He knew. My hand was trembling so much now that I could hardly hold my wand straight. I breathed deeply.

"Faylinn," he said calmly, thought cautiously, as thought any sudden movements might be disastrous, "Please lower your wand."

I shook my head. Act now, I thought, act _now_, before he does.

But he's a teacher, I remembered.

He's a _werewolf_.

But it was too late. He raised his wand before I even had a chance to react.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, and I gasped as my wand flew from my hand as thought being pulled by a fishing line.

He disarmed me! As I watched him reach out to catch my wand, only one word came to my mind.

Run.

I grabbed my bag in both hands and moved forward, while he was still distracted, swung it forward and hit him across the side. He gasped as he fell over on to the cold stone floor. I dropped my bag, skirted around the fallen cabinet and ran out of the office, ignoring Professor Lupin's yells for me to stop.

I sprinted down the corridor as fast I could, the loudness of my beating heart second only to the sound of my school shoes as they slammed against the stone floor.

"Faylinn! Stop!" shouted Professor Lupin, but I only ran faster and as I turned the corner I saw a flash of light just miss my shoulder.

I ran and ran and did not stop until I was two stories away from his office. I opened the door of an empty charms classroom and closed it silently behind me. I leaned against it and allowed myself to slide down onto the floor.

Professor Lupin is a werewolf. A werewolf, I thought bitterly, as I fought to catch my breath.

I thought back to everything I knew about werewolves. They turn into monsters on a full moon. They bite people. Transfer their disease. Even kill people.

But Professor Lupin is not a monster, I reminded myself. He is caring, considerate, smart, and even funny sometimes. I've had a crush on him for months. How could _he_ be a werewolf?

It did not make sense. Everything I had learned about werewolves told me they were viscous creatures. Dark creatures, Professor Quirell had called them. But Professor Lupin was _not_ dark.

The library. I need a book, a book about werewolves. When in doubt, consult a book. As frightened as I had been in the office, and still am, there was no way I was going to believe that Professor Lupin would have really hurt me.

I stood up again. My legs felt like jelly, they could hardly support me. But I was determined. The library was only two minutes away, and so I set off quietly, extremely aware that I was with out a wand, after curfew.

To my relief, the library was empty, with no librarian in sight. It was dark, but for the dim light provided by a few torches. I quickly found the relevant section and pulled three werewolf related books off the shelf and sat in a secluded corner on a sofa at the back of the library, under a torch.

The first book was called _The Werewolf: a S__ummary_. It was short, and seeing as how I was short on time, I started with it. Five minutes later however, after the author started to explain why all werewolves should be hunted down and killed, I stopped reading. Ignorant as I was about werewolves, I knew bias rubbish when I saw it.

I moved on to the second book. It seemed to be aimed at a younger audience, which meant that there was little complex language, many pictures and it got straight to the point.

The more I read, the more I realised I was wrong about werewolves and the more ashamed I became of my reaction in Professor Lupin's office. At one point I started crying so much that I had to stop reading for a few minutes. That was when I read about how painful it was to transform into a werewolf.

An hour later, I put the books down. Professor Lupin is not a monster. He is a human. A human with a problem. That was all.

Everything came together now, it all made sense. He was poor because no one would employ a werewolf, they didn't trust them. They all thought them to be vicious monsters that were determined to attack them or their children, but they were wrong. That only happens once a month and it is beyond their control anyway. No wonder he did not want to talk about his previous jobs. He was probably fired as soon as they found out.

And no wonder he was still single. The book mentioned how most people could not even look at a person any more once they found out they were a werewolf. They were too disgusted to even touch them, let alone date them. I had shed a few more tears when I read that one too.

And then there is the bite itself. The bite that made him a werewolf. It must have been horrific. Sometimes when I was younger, I would imagine how scary it would be to be cornered by a lion, or a tiger. I knew this must have been a hundred times worse.

I reached into my pocket for a tissue and wiped my face clean of tears. Poor Professor Lupin. Who knew how much I had just offended him? And to think I actually _attacked_ him.

I stood up to return the books to their shelves, but I had hardly taken a few steps before I froze.

Footsteps.

They were shockingly loud in the deadly silent library. I knew immediately who ever it was knew exactly where he or she was heading; the steps were loud, quick and continuos.

I moved back as quietly as I could into the corner near the sofa. My throat felt suddenly dry. Being in the library after curfew an hour and a half after having hit a teacher is not the ideal place a person would like to be in, by a long shot.

The foot steps grew louder and louder; the person was heading my way. I saw a beam of light illuminate the floor in front of me, and as a tall, familiar figure emerge from the darkness, I could not help but gasp with surprise.

* * *

**For all the Remus lovers out there - please don't hate Faylinn! If this chapter doesn't convince you that she's 'innocent', well, I hope the next chapter will! Please review!!!**

* * *


	19. Saying Sorry

"P-Professor Dumbledore!" I stuttered, shocked to see him here. What on earth was Professor Dumbledore doing strolling around in the library after dark? But I banished that thought immediately. This was no coincidence – he knew I was here.

He, on the other hand, seemed very relieved to see me.

"Miss Goodwill, are you okay?" he asked, his blue eyes piercing into my own.

"I'm fine," I said.

"I believe this belongs to you," he said, and to my astonishment, he handed me my wand.

I took it, looking from it to Professor Dumbledore.

"How – how did you get my wand?" I asked slowly, though I already the answer.

"Professor Lupin thought it would be better off my possession," he said simply. I noticed his eyes linger curiously for a moment on the books I was holding, and I shifted my hands so that they covered the title. A thought crossed my mind – did Dumbledore know that one of his staff members was a werewolf? Surely, he must. If Snape himself knew, it was impossible for the headmaster to be ignorant of the matter.

"Did, er, he mention how he came to have my wand with him?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes," said Dumbledore grimly, "An interesting tale, as it were. He seemed to think you were ready to attack him, and so he was forced to disarm."

I blushed furiously and bowed my head in shame, extremely aware that I had just attacked a teacher.

"Professor, I'm sorry," I whispered quickly, "I – I wasn't thinking straight, I was ignorant and I panicked. I know it was an over reaction, and I'm so sorry that I hit him –"

"You hit him?" he asked sharply, surprised.

"I – yes. I knocked him over with my bag when he disarmed me. He – he didn't tell you?"

"No, he seemed to have left that detail out," he replied thoughtfully, "To protect you, no doubt."

"Protect me?"

"I'm sure you realise, Miss Goodwill, that attacking a teacher is a serious breach of the school rules," he said, not reproachfully, more as a matter of fact, but the words only increased me in shame; I attacked him and he was still covering up for me.

"Take a seat," he said, indicating to the sofa, "We have some matters we need to discuss."

I sat down on the sofa, my hands trembling again, certain I was going to be in so much trouble. Professor Dumbledore conjured himself an arm chair from thin air and sat down.

"Miss Goodwill, I would like you to tell me what happened today in Professor Lupin's office."

I nodded, "I – I saw something in his office. A goblet with some potion in it, and there was a note saying he should drink it. I recognised it from potions class. It – it was wolfsbane."

I watched Professor Dumbledore's expression as I said that last word. His face changed to one of grim satisfaction.

"Professor Lupin guessed that you recognised the potion. He could not think of any other reason for your behaviour. Carry on."

I took a deep breath and continued, "Well, when I saw it, I realised what it must mean – that Professor Lupin is a, well, a werewolf…"

"So, you figured it out," said Professor Dumbledore slowly, finally confirming what I had suspected about Professor Lupin, "I was hoping perhaps there may have been some other reason for your actions."

"Well, no. That was it. I freaked out, when I realised. I panicked, I wasn't think straight," I added defensively, "All I could think was that I was alone with him and that I needed to get away."

The words sounded stupid, even as I spoke them.

"I didn't understand much about werewolves, other than them being classified as dark creatures, and that they are dangerous. I mean, I'm muggle-born and I don't know anything about werewolves other than what I learned in fifth year. We had Professor Quirrell, and he spoke about werewolves as though they were savages. He did not make the distinct that it was only in the werewolf form that it applied, and our textbook only spoke about the creature and not the person. So I blocked the door, hoping I could escape before he could come in, but I couldn't, so I raised my wand – _defensively_," I said, placing emphasis on the last word, "He told me to lower my wand, but I didn't, so he disarmed me. At that point I panicked, struck him with my bag and ran. I hid in a classroom, and I finally had a chance to actually think, instead of just panic."

I paused for a moment, looking away from Professor Dumbledore and instead focusing on the small table in front of me. The next part would be particularly difficult to explain.

"I realised that I knew hardly anything about werewolves, and what I did know about them clashed with everything I knew about Professor Lupin. Werewolves are apparently evil monsters who want nothing more than to bite our children, but Professor Lupin is one of the kindest, most considerate people I've ever meet. I was confused, so I came here. I found out that werewolves are just normal people who have a problem that affects them one night a month. I understood a lot of things about the Professor too, that I was confused about before, and, of course, I realised my reaction, in his office, was very wrong, and probably very offensive too."

There was a moment's silence. I waited for the admonishment I was sure was forming in his mind.

"You haven't told anyone about your discovery?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"No, Professor."

"And you realise I must ask you to continue holding your silence?"

"Yes, Professor. I won't tell anyone."

"Well, Miss Goodwill, I'm impressed," he said, a gentle smile playing at his lips.

I stared at him, dumb-founded, "Impressed?"

"Yes," he said, looking more amused now, "You could have ran to your common room and announced your discovery to everyone who was there, and caused much panic, which I am sure is exactly what many students would have done. Instead you came here and did some research, and came to a remarkable conclusion. You are right, of course. Professor Lupin is as human as you or I, and, I daresay, more kind-hearted than both of us."

I smiled weakly. Trust Professor Dumbledore to put of positive spin on the evenings events.

"If you don't mind, I was hoping you could accompany me to my office," he said, "We still have some business to attend too."

I stood up and followed him, wondering what business he was referring too and whether he intended to punish me for hitting Professor Lupin.

The walk to his office was completed in silence. I was very preoccupied with thoughts of how I could now face Professor Lupin, after what I had done. There was no doubt that my respect for him increased tremendously, knowing that he suffers so much prejudice and hardship, and yet is still the friendly teacher so many students know and love.

When we arrived at Professor Dumbledore's office, he held the door open for me to enter before him.

"Thank you, Prof – oh!" I gasped, dropping my wand from shock.

Professor Lupin was in the office, looking paler than I had ever seen him and very worried. He stood up abruptly when I entered the room. I stared at him, my eyes wide open, and a blush creeping across my cheeks.

He stepped forward, picked up my wand and handed it to me. I took it, avoiding his gaze and blushing even more. Ever the gentleman, even after I had knocked him over quite unceremoniously. I knew it was rude not to thank him, but my mouth refused to form any words at the moment.

Behind me, Professor Dumbledore entered the office and closed the door, chuckling merrily. He took a seat, and indicated that we should sit also. There were only two seats, and one of them had my school bag on it. I did not bother asking how it had got here.

"Well, Remus," Professor Dumbledore said pleasantly, "You will be pleased to know that Miss Goodwill has not informed anyone of her discovery, and has promised not to."

To my left, I heard Professor Lupin breath a sigh of relief, though I did not look at him.

"And I think she might have something to say to you, also."

I looked up sharply at Professor Dumbledore. He smiled encouragingly at me. Oh, great. He could have at least warned me!

Still not daring to look at the him, I instead fixed my gaze on the end of the headmaster's desk closest to Professor Lupin, and spoke.

"I – I want to say that I'm sorry, Professor. I'm so, so sorry. I over-reacted. I've just spent an hour reading about your, erm, condition in the library and I realise that almost everything I knew before about it was wrong. I would've never have reacted that way if I'd known that I do now," I hung my head slightly before continuing, "And I understand if you're mad at me, but I'm very, _very_ sorry, and I hope you can forgive me."

There was a moments silence and my heart beat rapidly as I waited anxiously for his reply.

"You're forgiven, Faylinn, and thank you."

A wave of relief flooded me, and I finally looked up to meet his eyes. He was smiling kindly, and I smiled back feebly, still embarrassed at what I had done.

"Well, that has settled that, it seems," said Professor Dumbledore happily, "Now, I'm sure your friends will be wondering about your absence, Faylinn, so I think it is best that you return to your common room. Remus, if you could escort her."

Escort me? My insides froze. I was not expecting to be alone with him so soon. This could be awkward…

"Of course," Professor Lupin replied, standing up.

"Good night, Faylinn, Remus,"

"Good night," I replied, and made my way hastily out of the office with Professor Lupin trailing behind me.

Neither of us spoke as we descended the spiralling staircase. Indeed, I had no idea what to say.

As we entered the corridor, Professor Lupin caught up with me and walked at my side. I stole a glance at him when I knew he was not looking. The first thing I saw was a nasty bruise on the side of his head, hidden almost completely by his hair.

"Please don't tell me I did that," I said, biting my lip.

"Did what?" asked Professor Lupin, turning around to look at me in surprise.

Realising he did not even know he was bruised; I conjured a mirror and held it up for him to see. To make things easier for him, I reached forward to brush the hair back away the bruise. He pulled his head back quickly, away from my hand, looking confused. I withdrew my hand immediately.

"I'm sorry – did that hurt?" I asked fearfully.

He reached his hand and touched his face where I had touched him, still looking confused.

"No, it's just – well, never mind," he replied hesitantly, "Can I see the mirror?"

"Oh, yes, of course," I said, handing it to him. He took it, taking obvious care not to touch my fingers, and it was then that I realised why he looked so confused. I touched him, willingly, even though I knew what he was. I remember back to the book I had read. It has said clearly that most people would not touch a werewolf. Apparently, he must have thought I would react like that too. Unlikely, I thought to myself, happily remembering the kiss we shared. Maybe that was why he was so against kissing me. Perhaps he thought I would be disgusted if I knew who I was really kissing.

"That's a pretty nasty bruise," commented Professor Lupin, examining it with interest.

"I'm really sorry Professor, I didn't mean to hurt you," I said guiltily, blushing furiously.

"That's okay, Faylinn," he said, smiling at me as he returned the mirror. I took special care to make sure my fingers touched his.

"It's nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix."

"Professor, can I, erm, ask you something? About your condition?" I asked nervously.

"Of course," he replied calmly, though I noticed him tense slightly.

"How long have you been a werewolf?" I asked curiously.

"A long time. I was bitten as a young child," he replied, smiling sadly.

"Oh," I said, my expression softening considerably. I imagined, against my will, a young child being attacked by a werewolf. I shivered at the thought and felt tears forming in my eyes. I blinked them back quickly, looking away from the Professor, but not quickly enough.

"What's the matter, Faylinn?" he asked, looking concerned.

"That must have been scary," I said in an audible whisper.

He sighed, "It was."

"I'm glad I found out," I said abruptly, "About your condition, I mean. It explains a lot, I think."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Just small things I always wondered about. Why you have grey hair when you're too young for it, why you look tired a lot, why you're absent a lot, why you're a bachelor, why someone with your intelligence isn't rolling in gold. It makes sense now, though."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought in to that," he said, smiling.

"I guess," I said, shrugging in what I hoped was an off-hand kind of way.

We reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"_Amor_," I said, and the portrait opened to reveal the common room.

I turned to Professor Lupin, he was looking at the common room reminiscently.

"Well, goodnight, Professor," I said, smiling.

"Goodnight, Faylinn, and again, thank you," he replied.

"You're welcome."

I slipped through the portrait hole into the common room, tired, embarrassed and, remarkably, with stronger feelings for the Professor than the last time I had entered the common room.


	20. The Best

An unspoken understanding seemed to have been reached between Professor Lupin and myself. Out of respect for his feelings, I did not bring up the issue of his lycanthropy after that night, and he, in return, continued to treat me as he would any other student.

Given the great speed with which the OWL and NEWT level exams were approaching, all fifth and seventh year prefects were discharged from their duties, which unfortunately for me meant no more Friday nights alone with Professor Lupin. Though as Audrey pointed out, that was more than made up for by the fact that we now have to take extra DADA classes to make up for the fact that Professor Lockhart was a stupid git who knew nothing about the subject he had been paid to teach.

All in all, the next two months were especially hectic for the NEWT's level students; an unpleasant combination of extra classes, revision, coffee, occasional hysteria and lack of sleep. Miraculously, the common room was incredibly quiet during the evenings. It had become an ideal study location, due mainly to the fact that Percy Weasley had taken to handing out severe punishments to anyone audacious enough to disturb the quiet of the common room.

And then, horrifically, the morning of our first exam dawned, and I found myself standing nervously outside the Great Hall with a trembling Audrey.

"It's okay," I said, in a tone suggesting I was trying to convince myself more than Audrey, "We'll be fine, we've studied heaps. We haven't slept properly in ages… it only written charms, we're both good at that…"

Audrey simply nodded as I continued rambling. I'm not sure she could even hear me.

"Seventh year NEWT's, Charms written examination," called out a deep voice, "Please enter the Great Hall and take your designated seats."

Audrey and I looked at each other, wearing matching horrified expressions. I gulped, and we slowly made our way into the hall, ready to face our doom.

As it turned out, I need not have worried so much. Our charms written examination was easy enough. Both Audrey and I came out of the exam beaming, and spent a good half hour discussing the paper over lunch. Our practical exam was even better.

Over the next few days, the same cycle repeated itself. Audrey and I would stand together, horrified, in front of the Great Hall, waiting for the exam to start, and then exit the very same hall hours later, smiling merrily. My potions practical had been perfect, if I do say so myself, and the only real issue I had with my transfiguration practical was that the table I had transfigured into a horse still had a slight mahogany colour reminiscent of the original table, though, as Audrey rightly pointed out, I could hardly loose more than a point for that.

However, no exam left me happier than the very last one – Defence against the Dark Arts. It was with a ridiculously broad smile that I approached Professor Lupin after that exam and explained ecstatically that the exam had gone extremely well and that I was optimistic that I had at least received an E, and possibly even an O.

"Audrey, this is it! Can you believe it?" I cried joyfully that night, as I jumped in to bed, "It's over! Exams are over! NEWT's is over!"

"I know," Audrey sighed, and she pretended to swoon, landing softly on her bed, "It's a bit sad though, isn't it? I mean, this is it. Goodbye Hogwarts, forever."

"Yeh," I replied heavily, "I know what you mean, it's been seven long years. Seven awesome years. I'm going to miss this place so much. It must be the exam pressure finally affecting my brains, but at the moment, I think I would even miss Percy!"

Audrey snorted, "Percy? Well, you might miss him, but if I get the job at the ministry, and he does too, I'll be seeing a lot more of him outside of school than I would have hoped!"

"Ouch. Life's harsh sometimes, isn't it? I really am going to miss this place."

"Well, we have a week left, don't we? I'm sure we can make the most of it," Audrey replied optimistically, "Speaking of which, Hogsmeade tomorrow. I know I told Oliver I'd go with him, but how about we spend the few hours there together first? I can meet up with Oliver later. I mean, it's the last Hogsmeade trip we will ever have together as students!"

I had trouble disguising my grin, "Thanks Audrey. It means a lot to me. How about our traditional sleep in until ten and have breakfast at the Three Broomsticks? I'll leave at around noon, that gives you and Oliver heaps of time to spend together."

And so that was exactly what we did. By the time we had awoken, the school was almost empty, there was hardly a student in sight, though Hogsmeade was alarmingly full. It took us quiet a while to find spare seats in the Three Broomsticks.

After a very satisfying (though admittedly late) breakfast, I let Audrey slip away in to the hands of Oliver Wood and made my way back to the school alone. I watched the castle growing larger in the distance as I approached. It was sad, knowing that I had no idea when I would be seeing it next, after I left here for good. Hogwarts as like a second home to me, indeed, over the past seven years, I had seen more of the castle than I had of my own home.

As I approached the castle, I noticed a horseless carriage parked at the gates. It was not until I was a few metres away from it that I realised who was standing at it's doors, carefully putting away an old suitcase and an empty Grindylow tank.

"Professor Lupin?" I said, frowning slightly, as I approached the carriage.

Professor Lupin started, and his expression was one of worry when he looked around to see who had addressed him, though when he saw me, his expression softened and he smiled.

"Hello, Faylinn. Back early from Hogsmeade?" he asked.

I did not answer, but instead asked, confused, "Are you going somewhere?"

His smile faltered slightly, and he asked, "You haven't heard? Weren't you at breakfast?"

"Heard what?" I asked quickly, "I skipped breakfast, I ate at Hogsmeade."

Professor Lupin looked uncomfortable, and said wryly, "Professor Snape let slip today at breakfast that I'm a werewolf."

I gasped, "No way!"

But Professor Lupin did not deny it, and I knew it was true.

"What did he do that for?" I asked angrily, not waiting for an answer, "The greasy haired git! Doesn't he know how prejudice people are against werewolves? But that doesn't explain where you're going, Professor," I added, frowning confusedly.

"I've resigned, the public will be outraged when the news reaches the ears of parents and the press," he said simply.

I stared at him, dumb struck.

"Resigned?" I repeated, hardly daring to believe my ears.

He nodded.

"But – but you can't go!" I said emphatically, "You're the _best_ defence teacher I've ever had, and that's saying something, I've had seven different teachers! I'm sure most students won't care. They all love you!"

"Thank you Faylinn, but I'm afraid it's too late. I don't have much choice."

"I guess not," I said fairly, silently cursing all the anti-werewolf prejudice that was rife amongst the wizarding community, "But," I added slowly, realising something, "But you're leaving, now? Weren't you even going to say goodbye?" I asked, unable to keep the hurt out of my voice.

"I know, I feel bad about that," he replied, looking slightly guilty, "But to be honest, I don't think I could have faced knowing just how many of my favourite students would have turned against me, knowing what I am."

"I'm sure I'm not the only one sorry to see you leave," I said sadly.

"Yes, I'd like to think so too," he said softly.

"I'll hex Snape for you – a time-locked hair colouring charm should do the trick. I always thought pink was his colour… I'll send you a picture too."

Professor Lupin smiled reminiscently, "Ah, pink haired Severus. That one brings back memories."

"Memories?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Severus and I were in the same year at Hogwarts, didn't you know? My friends and I once played a prank on him, turned his hair pink in the middle of the Great Hall."

I smiled, impressed, "Quite the trouble maker, weren't you, Professor?"

"Indeed. Be sure to owl me when your results come out, won't you? I'm hoping to see an O for your defence NEWT."

"I will, of course," I replied. I hesitated for a moment, and added, "And I'll definitely need it. I've decided that I want to apply for a research position at St Mungo's. There's a research project about cures for werewolf bites starting soon that I thought looked interesting…"

Professor Lupin looked surprised for a moment, but his expression changed to gratitude when he said, "That's wonderful. I confident you will be considered for the position."

"Thanks."

There was a moments silence as Professor Lupin cautiously looked down the street leading to Hogsmeade. I could tell he was eager to leave before any students with less-than-friendly inclinations showed up.

"Well, Faylinn, it's been a pleasure teaching you. Don't forget that owl, and the picture," he said, extending a hand.

I looked at his extended hand for a moment, and a reckless thought crossed my mind. I know I really shouldn't, but who knew when would be the next time I saw him? And besides, he wasn't a _teacher_ anymore…

I brushed away his hand, and instead stepped forward to hug him, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. I pulled back quickly though, not wanting the gesture to look anything other than friendly.

"And it's been a pleasure being taught by you, Professor, and don't worry, I won't forget," I replied, suppressing a grin at his bemused expression and at my own daring.

I stepped back as he entered his carriage, and after one quick wave in my direction, the horseless carriage rolled away along the road. I watched it sadly, my lips still tingling slightly from where they had touched the Professor's cheek. A moment later, the carriage was out of sight, taking with it the man who I had hopelessly crushed on for almost a year.

"Goodbye, Professor," I whispered.

I tried not to be too disappointed as I made my way back up the castle. After all, I knew I would be leaving him behind either way, since I was leaving Hogwarts, but at least then I had had the hope of seeing him when ever I visited the castle. Now, I won't have any idea were to find him, and I somehow doubt that he will be able to easily find another job. After all, there was no denying that his werewolf issue was about to become public knowledge. If I know the Daily Prophet, the story of the werewolf teacher was about to make headlines, most likely without mention of the fact that he was the best DADA teacher any of us had ever had, and one of the most loved teachers in the whole school.

I frowned at the thought, and re-doubled my resolve to get a job on that werewolf research project. Professor Lupin deserves a break, and I sincerely hope that I could be the one to give it to him.

I entered the silent castle, and before me stood a greasy black haired git, crossing the entrance hall. He had not seen me, but I glared at him all the same. The man who lost Professor Lupin the best job he ever had – and probably ever will have.

"I've got plans for you yet, Severus Snape," I muttered under my breath, and a slow smile spread across my face, "This ones for you, Professor Lupin. Now, where did I put that camera?"

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**Well, that's the end. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! Please leave some feedback! **

**My new story is up - Love Won't Wait - it's the sequel to my other fic, The Maruaders - Broomsticks and Fairytales. Faylinn makes an appearance in it, I've made her an order member too. Even though its a sequel, you can understand it without reading the Marauders fic. **

**Check out my profile for the link. **

**Thanks for reading! **

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